Captain Kate and the Dragon
by ucsbdad
Summary: Captain Kate Beckett, the pirate queen, must sail to China and beyond to escape the evil Sir William Bracken and his threat to her family. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

She was fully alert as soon as her eyes opened. Very briefly, she recalled when she was a girl and would wake up slowly, sometimes lolling in bed for ten or fifteen minutes before getting up. She couldn't do that now.

She slipped out of bed and padded silently to the stern windows of her ship. She opened one window. She could smell the salt tang of the sea and the stench of something rotting ashore. She listened intently. There! She had been right.

"You know I hate when you leave me, but I love to watch you walk away."

She smiled to herself and then wiggled her naked ass at her husband, who was still in bed. She walked back to the bed, but instead of getting back in, she began to pull on a pair of baggy linen trousers.

"Not coming back to bed?" He asked.

She shook her head. "I hear cannon fire. From the southeast, I think."

He frowned. "I don't hear anything."

She put on a colorful calico shirt and tied it under her breasts, exposing her flat, muscular stomach. 'That's because you're a man of peace who's spent most of his life peacefully." She wrapped a bright red silk sash around her hips and cinched her sword belt over that. She took another length of red silk and wrapped her chestnut colored hair in it. Due to the heat and the humidity, her hair was far curlier than usual. She pulled on a black, wide brimmed hat that had the brim turned up on the left side. On the hat was a long feather. The man who had sold it to her told her it was feather from the legendary roc, which she didn't believe for a minute. But she liked the feather.

Slipping her feet into a pair of rope soled shoes, she bent to kiss her husband. "You need to get dressed. There could be trouble." When he tried to pull her into bed again, she slipped away. She stopped at a chest of drawers and removed two double barreled pistols which she stuck in her sash. Then she left the cabin, not noticing that her husband had wiggled his naked ass at her as he got out of bed.

She strode onto the quarterdeck of the _Revenge_ and called to the officer of the deck. "Mr. Esposito, I hear cannon fire to the southeast. Please beat to quarters and advise the _Witch_ of that fact."

Mr. Esposito began giving orders.

The _Witch of Endor_ , a rakish 20 gun brig, lay between them and the shore. Her original owner, Captain Will Sorenson, had sold her to Kate when he had decided to remain in India to marry into and serve a Muslim royal family.

Four little drummer boys staggered onto the quarterdeck, still half asleep, and looked at Mr. Esposito.

"Beat to quarters, lads." He said.

The four drummers began to beat their drums.

A sense of controlled chaos overtook the ship and gun crews ran to their guns. Young powder monkeys swarmed up from the magazine with bags of black powder, ready to be rammed into the gun barrels and followed by shot. Other men were issued muskets, boarding pikes and cutlasses. Two dozen men stood by the capstan, ready for action.

Mr. Esposito approached Captain Kate with a watch in his hand. "Ship was ready for action in three minutes and eighteen seconds from the moment you gave the order, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Mr. Esposito." She turned to the signal midshipman. "Any reply from the _Witch_?

"Ma'am, Captain Ryan reports he was ready for action in two minutes, seventeen seconds."

"He has a much smaller ship. "Esposito grumped.

Captain Kate wisely said nothing.

"Ahoy the deck." Cried the lookout in the crows' nest. "I can see the very tip of a mast, perhaps two miles away. And I can see gun smoke."

Everyone on the ship could hear the roar of cannons now.

Kate nodded to herself. "Mr. Esposito, we'll make use of the spring now to turn us to face whoever it is there."

A spring is a device for turning a ship at anchor. Anchors are dropped, at some distance from the ship, at ninety degree angles from the side of a ship. The capstan can then be used to slowly haul the ship around to face in any direction.

Slowly a ship was seen to come around the point to the south.

"Damn!' Cried Castle, who had joined Kate on deck. "It's a ship of the line. If it's after us, we're dead."

Kate grabbed a telescope and ran to the end of the quarterdeck, clapping the spyglass to her eye, she chuckled. "It's not a ship of the line. It's an British East Indiaman. The stupid bastards have nailed their lower gun ports shut so they can carry more cargo." She looked up at the crow's nest. "Lookout! What can you see of her deck armament?"

"There's bloody little. I count a dozen guns, perhaps twelve pounders. And all manner of cargo on her deck."

Kate shook her head. "What kind of a fool would so disarm his ship in these waters?"

"We'll soon find out, I imagine." Castle said.

As he spoke, more ships rounded the point. These were local craft called _dhows_. They were individually smaller and less powerful than the Indiaman, but Kate was able to count at least sixteen of them. Had they been able to close and board the Indiaman, the pirates would have overwhelmed the crew in no time.

As soon as the _dhows_ saw the _Revenge_ and the _Witch of Endor_ had their broadsides to them and their cannon manned and ready, they began to veer away and in minutes were headed away as fast as possible.

The Indiaman, seeing they were saved, turned about and dropped anchor between _Revenge_ and the _Witch._

"Signal from the Indiaman, Captain. The captain wishes to come aboard to thank us."

"Thank you, Mr. Esposito. Please signal him to come aboard."

Kate watched as the Indiaman's captain's gig was lowered and the oarsmen and several passengers clambered aboard. Kate thought the gig's crew were rather sloppy, which she blamed on poor training and discipline by the captain. She was starting to form a low opinion of the man.

Soon, the captain, resplendent in a blue uniform with much unauthorized gold braid, came aboard, followed by a tall, suntanned older man dressed in a fine green broadcloth suit. Behind them were two oddly dressed Asian men in saffron robes.

"My thanks to you, captain, for saving us. I'm Captain Hubbard of the Honorable East India Company's ship, _King Alfred_." The man was addressing Castle which made both Rick and Kate smile.

"Good to meet you, sir. "Castle replied. "But the captain is my wife over there."

Hubbard turned towards Kate and then laughed. "You're having a bit of fun with us, are you, Captain? Sure, your doxy is not the captain."

"I'm Captain Kate Beckett and this is my ship, the _Revenge._ "

Hubbard's face went pale. "Kate Beckett? The infamous pirate queen? We'd have been better off with Arab pirates."

"Not at all, Captain. I have no wish to trouble the Honorable Company."

"Well, the Honorable Company wishes to trouble you, my lass. They wish to stretch your pretty neck as do every other honest person. The man whose daughter you kidnapped, Sir William Bracken, has become the private secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty. They've posted a reward of fifty thousand pounds for your capture, and twenty thousand for the return of Lady Priscilla to her husband, Lord Desmond."

"La!" Said a new voice.

Hubbard turned to find two young women, no, they appeared to be young ladies, coming up from below decks. One was an attractive blonde and the other a stunning redhead.

"And who might you be?" Hubbard demanded sharply.

"Lady Priscilla Bracken. Note the use of my maiden name as I am not married to that creature Desmond."

"Bah." Cried Hubbard. "You're naught but some whore. No lady would live a pirate's life. And your pirate life will soon end and the end of a rope, slut."

Priscila walked towards Hubbard with a smile on her beautiful face. Then she kicked the captain in the crotch. "Please convey that message to my father and that Desmond thing."

Hubbard tried to say something but failed, being bent over and short of breath.

"Priscilla! I'm trying to have a conversation with the captain." Kate said sharply. "Now, Captain Hubbard, as I said, I have no quarrel with the company. You need assistance which I can provide at a price."

"Pay a pirate for help! I'll die first. I'll see every one of you scoundrels hang and hang slowly. I'll see your bodies rot and…."

Before Hubbard could finish the sentence, the older man with him struck Hubbard across the jaw, causing him to drop like a stone. The man turned to the bosun in charge of Hubbard's gig. "Dawkins, I believe the captain has suffered from sun stroke. Please put him in the gig and keep him there." He threw the man a gold coin. "Be a good fellow."

Dawkins smiled. "The captain'll be in good hands, sir."

The man turned to Kate and doffed his hat. "I believe we need to negotiate. I'm Edward Pellew. I left Cornwall for India thirty years ago as a teenage clerk for the Company. Since then, I've become quite wealthy, and accustomed to negotiating with all manner of people. My wife and four children are aboard _King Alfred_ and I have no intention of letting that idiot Hubbard get us all killed by Arab pirates or anyone else."

Kate smiled. "I'm glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Pellew. Perhaps we could adjourn to my cabin and have a cooling drink?"

"I thought you'd never ask, Captain Beckett."

Once settled in their cabin, Kate described what she had seen of the _King Alfred_. "Your mainmast is obviously damaged as is your rudder and much of your rigging. And it appears that most of your guns have been dismounted and I'd guess, used as ballast?"

Pellew nodded. "The pirates shot at our masts and rigging so as to be able to capture us. They don't want to sink a valuable ship by shooting at the hull. I assume the shot to the rudder was just luck, or a very good shot." He shook his head. "Hubbard insisted on filling the gun decks with cargo so he'd make more money. I complained, but he insisted that since we were in a convoy, three other Indiamen and a Royal Navy frigate, we'd be fine. We were fine until four days out of Bombay when a storm scattered our convoy. We've seen nothing of the other ships since then. We were attacked by those damned pirates two days ago. All that idiot Hubbard could do was sit in his cabin, drink rum and blubber. I should have thrown him overboard." Pellew smiled at Kate. "So, Captain Beckett, what about ten thousand pounds in gold for your help in getting _King Alfred_ shipshape again. And capable of fighting?"

Kate smiled back. "I assume that a great deal of the ship's deck cargo is Hubbard's personal property, to be sold in London for his own profit?"

Pellew nodded. "As permitted by the company, although the amount of cargo is far more than I've ever seen a captain carry."

"Suppose I were to take the captain's personal cargo? Do you suppose it's worth ten thousand pounds?"

"Oh, but you're a canny negotiator, Captain Beckett. I think he said it was worth eight thousand, but I'd be more than happy to pay you two thousand pounds to cover the rest."

"Excellent, Mr. Pellew. I think we have a deal."


	2. Chapter 2

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

"Not quite. I'll need to talk to some people on the _King Alfred_ and draw up a contract first."

"A contract?" Kate was surprised. Pirates didn't usually draw up contracts. But Captain Beckett was not your usual pirate by any means.

Mr. Pellew was gone for several hours and when he came back, it was with the _King Alfred's_ officers and Captain Hubbard.

"Now, Captain Hubbard, you'll be signing this contract to have these fine people repair the _King Alfred_ and make her ready to fight, if need be."

Hubbard glared at Pellew. "Pay for these pirates to help us? Never."

Pellew managed to appear surprised. "Pirates? Why Lieutenant Williams, do you see any pirates?"

Williams shook his head. "No, Mr. Pellew, just Captain Dom Pedro Gomes of the Portuguese frigate _Joao Belo_."

"What?" Screamed Hubbard. "There sits the infamous pirate wench Kate Beckett. She's worth fifty thousand pounds."

"Only if we were to survive the Arab pirates that have been chasing us." Pellew growled. "Now, sign over your cargo to Dom Pedro here so we can get going."

"My cargo!" Shrieked Hubbard. "Never. This is an outrage. I'll report you all to the East India House. I'll report you all."

"That you may, Captain." Pellew agreed with a cold smile. "But do recall that I've purchased a rotten borough and intend to take my seat in Parliament. And, as a very wealthy man, I'm very good friends with the directors of the company. While you are a captain of some notoriety with the Company."

"There were extenuating circumstances." Cried Hubbard. "The Court of Inquiry said so."

"Yes, you managed to ground your ship in bloody Bombay harbor and ruin a complete cargo of tea. The extenuating circumstance was that the investigating officer was a bloody drunk. Now sign." Pellew fingered a heavy dirk that he now had at his waist.

For a long minute, it looked like Hubbard would refuse. But then, cursing under his breath, he signed.

Kate immediately set her two ship's crews to work on repairing the _King Alfred_ and putting her in a shape to defend herself.

"We'll need ballast to replace the cannons that Hubbard put down in the keel." Pellew said. "Perhaps we could find rock or sand ashore."

"The local seacoast tribes are pirates. And those inland raid the seacoast. " Kate replied. "We'll need a well armed party."

Pellew spat. "That place has been nothing but a hellhole in the middle of nowhere since time began."

"That is not correct, Mr. Pellew." The speaker was one of the Asian gentlemen that had boarded with Pellew and Hubbard.

"Is it not, Mr. Thondup?" Pellew asked, curiously.

"The city of Aden was quite large and prosperous up until the first century of your Christian era. This is a natural crossroads for trade. You can trade with Arabia Felix inland from here, you can trade with the Kingdom of Aksum across the straits in Africa. You can trade with Egypt which is just north on the Red Sea, and ships can come across the Indian Ocean from India and China. However, the trade with China and India was easier through the Persian Gulf and for that, and many other reasons, the city of Aden decayed to what you see now."

"And you are, sir?" Kate asked.

The man bowed to Kate. "I am Lhamo Thondup, my lady. I am a Buddhist _bonze_ , or priest, from the great monastery at Lhasa, Tibet. My friend, Master Zeng, from the monastery of Shao Ling in China, and I wished to see the wonders of Europe. I'm afraid that Captain Hubbard thought us to be some kind of jinxes and wanted to put us ashore here."

"I will not allow that." Kate said sharply.

"That will not happen." Pellew added.

"But you speak such excellent English." Priscilla said. "Where did you learn it?"

"From and Englishman who came to our country to study Buddha. His name is St. John Randolph."

Castle sat up at once. "What? "Rambling" Randolph ended up in Tibet. How fascinating."

"Do you know him?" Asked Mr. Thondup.

"No. My time at Trinity College, Dublin, was well after his. But tell me, did he have a young, blonde lady with him?"

"Yes! His wife Margaret. How did you know?"

Castle laughed. "She's the daughter of Lord Belmont, a very wealthy landlord in Ireland. When she ran off with him, it caused a huge scandal. Lord Belmont posted a huge reward for her return. And a larger reward for the head of Randolph. Randolph was nothing but an impecunious student in those days, always disappearing to see new things."

"Much like my friend, Master Zeng, and I. We wish to learn of Europe. Especially your Christianity. We have been puzzling over St. Augustine of Hippo's book, _The City of God_ , but it's in the original Latin which we have some trouble with."

"Oh, we have _The City of God_ in English. Perhaps we could help you with it." Alexis said. Priscilla nodded.

"That would be wonderful." Cried Master Zeng.

Somehow over the next several days the two Buddhists became the tutors of both Alexis and Priscilla. And the girls became the tutors to the two Buddhists. Kate had their baggage transferred from the _King Alfred_ to the _Revenge_. It was almost entirely books.

That night as Kate and her family had dinner in the great cabin of the _Revenge_ , Alexis asked a question. "Father, Mr. Grant spoke of buying something called a rotten borough and taking his seat in Parliament. Whatever did he mean by that?"

"The boundaries for the constituencies for Parliament haven't changed for hundreds of years, dear Alexis. Why, there's a town that has the right to elect a Member of Parliament that has mostly fallen into the sea over the centuries. One man owns what's left of the town and the few townspeople who remain vote for his candidate if they know what's good for them. There are many constituencies that number less than a hundred voters. It's easy enough for a wealthy man or two to get the man they want elected."

"That's awful." Priscilla cried.

"That it is." Castle said sadly. "But it's the way things are."

A strong landing party went ashore and brought rocks and sand back to replace the cannons as ballast in _King Alfred_. Captain Hubbard had retreated to his cabin with a barrel of rum, so Mr. Pellew acted in the captain's place. Soon, the mast, rudder and rigging were repaired and the guns mounted. Gun crews were organized and trained.

"I think, Captain Beckett, that we are ready to sail." Pellew said "We'll go south. If you can escort us for a day or two, we'll be well away from the local pirates. We'll sail to the Portuguese colony of Mozambique and hope to pick up a convoy returning from India there. If not, we'll head for the Cape of Good Hope."

Kate agreed and the next day, _King Alfred_ in company with _Revenge_ and _Witch of Endor_ sailed south, followed for the first day by the piratical dhows. By the morning of the second day, the pirates were gone.

But, on the fourth day, they spotted multiple sails on the horizon, also headed south. Kate grabbed her telescope and quickly moved up the ratlines to the crow's nest. "Damn!" She swore. "It's a convoy homeward bound from India. And they have a Royal Navy escort. Raise the Portuguese flag and set a course to the northeast. Hopefully they won't be interested in a pair of Portuguese ships and if we're lucky, no one on _King Alfred_ will tell them who we really are."

The flags were raised and both ships turned away from the British convoy. Soon the convoy slipped under the horizon. Kate changed course several times once night fell, and by dawn the next day there were no other ships in sight.

That night, Rick and Kate ate dinner together and tried to decide on their next move.

"We can't go back to Europe. With a reward of fifty thousand pounds, every warship from every nation will be looking for us, lover."

Rick nodded sadly. "We can't go back to India for the same reasons. We really shouldn't go back to Malabar and Princess Jasmine. They'd gladly take us in, but we'd bring all of India down on them."

Before Kate could answer, Alexis stormed into the cabin, followed by Priscilla and the monks Thondup and Zeng.

"Dammit!" Cried Alexis, throwing herself into a chair.

"Alexis!" Rick cried. "Such language. When you were younger I would have washed your mouth out with soap."

"I'm sorry, Father. But our only chronometer is broken. It's stopped entirely."

"That's bad?" Castle was an educated man, but as a doctor. His knowledge of the sea was still limited.

"Yes, dear." Kate said. "We use chronometers, which are supremely accurate clocks, to navigate. We use them to determine longitude, that is where we are on an imaginary east-west line. Latitude is an equally imaginary series of north-south lines. By finding both, we can tell exactly where we are on the Earth's surface."

Castle nodded. "But people have been sailing since before even the discovery of the compass. Is this loss of the chronometer so bad?"

Kate, Alexis and Priscilla all nodded. "Father, people have been running into the western shores of Ireland when they thought they were almost to Liverpool back before there were compasses. Especially in these poorly charted Eastern waters we need to know our precise location."

"Don't we have another? Does not the _Witch of Endor_ have one?"

Kate shook her head. "When Sorenson was Captain of the _Witch_ , he had a very elderly chronometer, but it failed some months ago. I don't know where we'd get another."

"Perhaps at Taprobane?" Suggested Master Zeng.

"Where?" Everyone asked at once.

"Ceylon as it is known to the English." Thondup explained. "The island just south of India. It's a Dutch colony and very worried about the English to the north in India. The island has many Buddhists and I have been in correspondence with many of them for years."

Kate smiled. "Our two ships could be French naval vessels. We could sail in, purchase a chronometer and sail away before anyone thought to investigate us further."

Shortly after dawn, many days later, two fine warships sailed into Columbo harbor flying the white flag with golden fleur de lys of The Kingdom of France. The ships were the frigate _Danae_ , and the brig _Aurore,_ or so the port authorities were told _._ The frigate was under the command of a rather gruff French captain, Richard de Gaudet, alleged to be a Rhinelander in the service of France. The Captain of the _Aurore_ was a charming and droll Irishman, Francis O'Malley.

But once the two captains arrived to present themselves to the governor, no one paid them any attention, for with Captain de Gaudet was his stunningly beautiful wife and their equally beautiful daughters.

While the locals fawned over the ladies, Thondup, Zeng and Esposito headed for a small Buddhist temple in the city.

"Is Master Dorje here?" Thondup asked politely of a young novice.

"Of course. And whom may I say is calling?"

"I am Lhamo Thondup, of Tibet, and this is my friend, Master Zeng, from China."

The novice smiled. "I will inform Master Dorje at once. He will be delighted to see you both. And your friend. "He quickly added.

In moments, a slender, shaven headed and very elderly man dressed in saffron robes strode out to meet the three. In spite of his age, he moved like a young lad.

"Thondup? Zeng? What a surprise and an honor to welcome you. Come! Join me for tea."

Dorje led them to a sparsely furnished room, where they sat on the floor and drank what even Esposito had to admit was excellent tea.

"What brings you to our temple, old friend?" Dorje asked, at last.

Thondup have him a short version of their travels and their need for a chronometer.

Dorje nodded. "There is a shop that can sell you such a device, but the price will be very dear, I'm afraid." Then he smiled. "However, I think that I can help you and help another. You say your friends cannot return to Europe. Could they perhaps go to China? To Hainan Island to be exact?"

Thondup thought for a moment. "They only wish to travel east. But why Hainan?"

By way of reply, Dorje called over a novice and whispered something to him. Then he turned back to his guests.

"I have had a very bright young lady staying here learning of the meaning of the great Dharma Wheel. She is quite adept. But now she needs to return home. I had promised I'd return her there, and I have a friend with a shop that sells all manner of nautical equipment, including chronometers. Your friends can take her home and my friend will provide them with a chronometer. Everyone will be happy. "

As he finished, a young woman came in and bowed. She wore a rather shapeless blue gown, and kept he eyes downcast. Thondup did notice that the woman walked normally, indicating that her feet had not been bound, as was becoming more and more common in China.

"This is Chen Suay Den, my student."

The girl said something in a dialect of Chinese that neither Thondup nor Zeng understood. Then she spoke to Dorje in another language. Then she spoke again to Thondup and Zeng in more understandable Chinese.

"My native dialect is very uncommon outside of Hainan. However, "She then switched languages. "I speak English some bit."

Thondup asked the woman some questions from the sutras and decided that her knowledge of Buddhism was quite advanced.

"I shall ask our European friends to take this young lady to her home. I am quite sure that they will oblige her."

Meanwhile, the Castle family had been rushed off to see the Governor, Hendrick van Rijn. The governor was an old reprobate and was at once taken by the beauty of the three Castle women. He insisted that they join him for a dinner party that evening.

The food at the party was a _rijsttafel_ which consisted of some forty small dishes served over a bed of rice. Alcohol in its many forms were much in evidence and Governor van Rijn seemed to be drinking all of them, one after another. The guests were stolid Dutch merchants and their equally stolid wives, all of whom spoke of nothing but commerce. There were a few other Europeans there, including a lean and swarthy English representative of the East India Company named Vaughn.

Vaughn had been talking to Priscilla when he suddenly stepped back, his face a mask of shock.

"Two pounds!" He cried.

Priscilla looked around her in confusion.

"What is it, Vaughn?" Governor van Rijn demanded.

"This woman is nothing but a common whore. She offered to sleep with me for two pounds."

"I did no such thing!" Priscilla cried.


	3. Chapter 3

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

Castle pushed his way through the crowd and reached Priscilla's side.

"My daughter is certainly not…what you said." Castle said angrily. "I demand you retract that slur."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"I am saying you are wrong."

Vaughn slapped Castle across the face. "You did call me a liar. I demand satisfaction. I suggest we meet tomorrow morning. You have the choice of weapons, of course."

"Swords." Castle said.

Vaughn turned to the still shocked Governor. "As this man has a ship at his disposal, I request that he remain here for the night."

Van Rijn thought for the moment. The French were powerful, but far away. The British and their East India Company were powerful and close. "Of course. Captain de Gaudet will stay here for the evening."

Vaughn pulled Castle close and whispered in his ear. "I know who you are, Mister Castle. Since I'm one of the finest swordsmen in India, once I kill you, I'll take your wife and daughter and turn them in for the reward." He pushed Castle roughly away.

Kate finally pushed her way through the crowd and grabbed her husband by the arm.

"What the hell just happened?" She demanded.

Rick pulled her into a corner and whispered in her ear.

"The bastard knows who we really are. He set up a duel so he can grab you, Alexis and Priscilla so he can collect the reward."

"We'll have to sail as soon as we get back on the ship."

Castle shook his head. "The damned governor intends to keep me here until dawn."

"We'll just break you out of here then."

"Have you seen this place? The Governor's mansion is in the middle of a fortress. He has a whole damned regiment guarding the place. You'd all get killed."

"We'll grab you at the site of the duel, then." Kate kissed him. "I have to get the girls and get back to our ships and make plans. Don't worry."

"What? Me worry?" Castle said sarcastically. But he grabbed Kate and kissed her passionately.

While Rick tried to get some sleep in the Governor's mansion, Kate gathered her officers and made plans. Kate hardly noticed the news that they now had three brand new chronometers in exchange for taking a woman to Hainan Island, China.

Much later, in spite of a guard being posted on the _Revenge_ , no one noticed a black clad figure slipping over the side and into the water. Once on land, the figure pulled on a tattered, but voluminous, blue cloak and walked purposefully through the city. Arriving at Vaughn's home, the figure dropped the cloak. There were no guards, only an elderly doorkeeper who was fast asleep by the door. The figure easily slipped by him and headed to Vaughn's bedroom.

Vaughn was sound asleep. The figure smiled to see that Vaughn was on his back, and snoring loudly, with his mouth wide open. A small vial appeared in the figure's hand. The contents were poured into Vaughn's mouth. The man coughed, woke up and looked around him. He saw a dark figure by his bedside, then his sight grew dim. He closed his eyes and never opened them again.

The figure smiled and left silently.

The next morning, well before dawn, Kate, Alexis, Priscilla, Princess L'Anie, Ryan, Esposito and a dozen other sailors arrived at the park where the duel was to take place. Each wore a heavy boat cloak and under the cloaks were a variety of weapons. Kate had a blunderbuss under her arm, four heavy pistols tucked in her sash, and her rapier and dagger at her waist. She had decided that the first person she'd kill would be Vaughn.

Just as dawn was breaking, Governor van Rijn arrived with Castle and at least fifty soldiers. The Governor gave Kate a look that she interpreted as meaning he had guessed her plans. It made no difference to her.

An hour passed, but Vaughn hadn't arrived. Then a young officer from the garrison rode up, threw himself off of his horse and spoke to van Rijn. The governor walked over to Kate.

"It seems that Herr Vaughn passed away during the night. The doctor thinks it might have been his heart. In any case, you are free to go about your business, Mevrouw de Gaudet."

Kate nodded and smiled as politely as she could. "I think we'll be leaving Ceylon." She turned and walked away with her husband, her daughters and her friends.

The _Revenge_ and _Witch of Endor_ left Ceylonese waters as soon as they could. They then had the problem of determining exactly what to do next.

Kate took out all of the charts of the Orient that the ships had. She gathered Rick, her daughters, Thondup, Zeng and Miss Chen in the great cabin of _Revenge._

"Our charts of this part of the world are incomplete. We have some very rough ideas of what's there." Kate tapped the map. "For instance, here are two land masses that are marked as being possibly being islands with a possible strait between them. In reality, it could be just a deep bay. Miss Chen, you came to Ceylon by sea. Can you tell us how to return you to China?'

Miss Chen kept her eyes downcast. "Don't know about big water."

Luckily, Master Zeng spoke. "I believe the map is partially accurate. There is a peninsula and a large island south of what's on your chart. There is a narrow strait that will lead you into the open waters beyond. I'm positive that you can get to the Spanish colony of the Philippines and from there, to Hainan Island."

"Do you know the latitude and longitude of any of these places?" Kate asked.

Both Thondup and Zeng sadly shook their heads. "We lack that knowledge. That was one of the things we had hoped to study in Europe."

"What do we do?" Castle asked.

"We sail carefully to the east and hope we don't literally run into any land."

And so, the two ships sailed carefully across the Bay of Bengal towards the unknown. Luckily, the winds were with them and they sighted land soon.

"There seem to be a lot of boats and small ships headed north. "Alexis said, standing on the quarterdeck with Kate, her father, Priscilla and the two monks. "I'll bet there's a port in the north."

Kate directed the helmsman to steer to the north, following the other ships. For their parts, the other ships stayed out of the way of these two new armed vessels but didn't flee madly.

"Good." Castle said. "I'd guess they'd seen European ships before and are wary, but not terrified."

Finally, a small fishing boat decided to see if they could make a sale. They pulled up alongside of the _Revenge_ and held up several large fish, all the time speaking in an unknown tongue. Miss Chen, Master Zeng and Thondup spoke to them in all of the languages at their command. Finally, Zeng succeeded in finding a common language and spoke for several minutes. Then he turned to Kate and the others.

"We've arrived at the Tuangoo Empire, which I believe is also called by Europeans as Burma. We're near a port called Mergui. The fishermen say that they trade with Europeans although there are no European ships in port now. And these people are Buddhist."

"Do they know how to get to the Philippines or to Hainan Island?" Kate asked.

Zeng shook his head. "They are simple fishermen. They rarely go far from home, but they say there's a Chinese _bonze,_ a monk, in Mergui who's well-traveled and knows the sea." Zeng stopped and looked a bit embarrassed. "And I promised him a gold piece for his fish. I'm sure that's too much."

Kate took a gold coin from her pocket and threw it to the fisherman. In return, the fishermen hoisted a large fish onto the deck of _Revenge_.

"I don't recognize the species. "Rick said. Neither did anyone else.

"I hope it's tasty." Alexis muttered.

Being unsure about any reefs or sandbars at the harbor, both ships remained outside until the next morning. Just after dawn a small boat sailed out of the harbor and a small, wiry, weather beaten man came aboard sporting a huge smile. He spoke with Thondup and Zeng for a bit. Zeng turned to Kate.

"This man says he's the harbor pilot. He'll pilot us inside the harbor and find us a good place to berth. He also knows Zhu De, the Chinese monk who's the expert on navigation. He wants two gold pieces, but I might be able to bargain him down to one."

Kate shook her head. "I'd like him to do a good job. We'll pay two."

The pilot was very good as Kate found out. As he stood by the helmsman, giving instructions through Zeng as a translator, Kate watched the water as they sailed into the harbor. She saw a rock just barely above the water and wanted to point out to the pilot that he was going awfully close to it. Then she saw they were passing a submerged rock on the other side of the ship. He also went between two sandbars as neatly as you'd please. And when he'd found a berth for the _Revenge_ , he took a small boat out to the _Witch of Endor_ and repeated the whole thing.

The pilot took them into the town of Mergui. It was a large town, rather than a city, but it was a bustling place. They passed through a busy marketplace, filled with sellers of fish, rice, vegetables and spirits. There were sellers of cloth, clothing, shoes, not to mention all manner of weapons. Several women who were undoubtedly selling themselves approached Rick. Kate placed her hand on the rapier and gave the women a look that had them heading elsewhere.

They arrived at a Buddhist temple. It looked more like a formal garden than a place of worship. A riot of tropical plants, mostly unfamiliar to them were everywhere. A young shaven headed monk strode quickly out to see what they wanted. After talking briefly to Zeng, they were lead through several gardens to an airy building. It was long and low and had no walls, just posts holding the roof up. The first thing they saw inside was a large telescope. So large that Kate guessed that it had to be used for studying the heavens. Zhu De was obviously a man of many interests.

Zhu De himself came out to greet them. He was tall, deeply sunburned and appeared to be younger than Zeng. Kate was later surprised to find that he was near ninety years old. He chatted briefly with Zeng, and then switched to English.

"I do hope my English is adequate, Captain Beckett." He said with a wink.

Kate had kept the fiction that they were a French squadron under the command of Captain de Gaudet and that she was his wife.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, sir. I am Mrs. de Gaudet, wife of Captain de Gaudet."

Zhu De laughed. "You are more famous than you know, Captain Beckett. And I fear your portrait is making you much better known." Zhu De held out a large piece of paper. On it were very accurate portraits of Kate, Rick, Alexis and Priscilla. The rest of it was covered in several languages. The one in English was all Kate needed to read. It offered fifty thousand pounds for her, dead or alive, ten thousand for Rick and Alexis and twenty thousand for Priscilla, but only if she was taken alive.

Kate's hand went to the hilt of her rapier. Zhu De laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

"Please Captain. I have little use for the things of the world that such money would bring me. And I have eschewed all forms of violence. You are perfectly safe here. But you might wish to complete whatever business brought you here quickly. You are a striking looking woman, Captain Beckett."

Kate quickly explained why they were there. She ended by asking Zhu De how he had learned such excellent English.

"I am pleased to hear that my English is acceptable to your ears, Captain. I have endeavored to learn the languages Europe so that I might understand your science. I have studied English, French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese. But I think I am best in English and French. But you don't wish to hear my unseemly boasting. Come with me."

Zhu De led them to a large bookcase and from it be took a large volume. From that he removed a map. He laid it out so all could see.

"I have no chronometer as you have, so I am unable to calculate longitude. However, I have traveled south along the coast to the end of the peninsula here. "Zhu De tapped a place that would one day be called Malaya. "I have personally calculated the latitude of the places marked with a blue dot. I have also talked to many navigators, European and Asian, and have determined latitude, longitude or both for numerous places. They are marked with a green dot. Alas, I fear my explorations go no further towards the Philippines or China." He picked up the map and handed it to Kate, "Please take this."

"Thank you. How much do I owe you for it?"

Zhu De smiled. "As I said, I have little use for the things of the world other than my scientific instruments. But, should you come this way again, please stop and tell me of all you see in your voyages to the east."

"Thank you, sir. I'm afraid we must be going now."

"That might not be wise, I fear. The tide is both falling and going out. By the time the tide is favorable, it will be after dark. The harbor pilots do not work after dark. It is too dangerous."

"We'll return to our ship then. Would you care to join us for dinner? We have many navigation charts you could examine."

Zhu De smiled. "I would love to, but I have many things to do before I sleep tonight."

And so they all returned to their ship and prepared to leave the next morning. They did, but not in the manner they had anticipated.

Shortly before midnight, Kate was woken by a pounding on her cabin door.

"What is it?"

"There's a lady here from the town. She's from Mr. Zhu De. She says there's trouble in town." Reported a seaman.

"I'll be out in a moment." Kate said, grabbing her clothing which she always kept handy just for such an interruption.

She came out of her cabin and found a Buddhist nun who she did remember seeing at Zhu De's. The nun was in tears.

"What is it?"

"There's an army of Siamese rebels approaching the town. We have no defenses, no garrison, nothing to stop them. Zhu De would like you to take as many people as you can aboard your ships. The rebels will kill us all."

Kate told the sailor to prepare a landing party while she returned to her cabin. Castle had heard and was already dressed an armed. He handed Kate her rapier, dagger and pistols.

They landed with thirty well armed men and headed towards Zhu De's.

Castle suddenly stopped. "There's something headed this way."

They all listened.

"Perhaps a cart." Esposito said.

"Sounds more like footsteps of some sort." Someone said.

"Cavalry?" Someone else guessed.

"It can't be cavalry, "Castle began, "because…."

Just then, something very large blundered around the corner, knocking over a small house and heading straight for them.

"An elephant!" Kate yelled. "Like in Africa."

Castle quickly smashed in the door of a shop. "Everyone inside." He yelled.

No one needed to be told twice as the huge animal stomped down the street, trumpeting loudly and doing damage with every step. On top of the beast was a _howdah_ , looking like a small castle and filled with a dozen musketeers who fired at everything and mostly hit nothing.

In seconds, the beast was gone. When Kate's party left the shop, they discovered that their party had grown. The shopkeeper, his wife and four children had joined them. Kate tried to explain that they were headed into danger, no away from it, but the shopkeeper and Kate had no common language.

"How did an elephant get here all the way from Africa?" Castle wondered out loud.

"You'll think of an explanation." Kate teased, "You always do."

They could see fires on each side of them, and hear firing and screams, but the town directly ahead of them appeared to be dark and silent. They arrived at the temple.

"Zhu De!" Called Zeng. "Are you here?"

Zhu De stepped out of the shadows. "I am here. Where are the townspeople?"

"There is just this family. I think everyone is hiding. Perhaps we can find them on the way out. Are you ready to go?"

"I have everything I have on navigation. The rest, I fear, will be destroyed by the Siamese."

"What about your telescope?" Asked a voice that Castle had not expected to hear in the town.

"Alexis? What are you doing here? I told you to stay with Priscilla."

"She is with me." Priscilla answered.

"Priscilla and I can carry your telescope. It might come in handy. It's far more powerful than our telescopes."

"Where did you get those clothes?" Castle demanded. "You look like men! "

"Castle, you can yell at them when we're safe. And I agree with Alexis. We might be able to use the big telescope."

While Castle fumed, the two girls picked up the telescope. Kate had Zhu De's navigation books distributed among her crew and they set off for their ships. As they went through the town, Zhu De called to the people to come with them to the safety of the ships, but only a few people came out of their houses.

"They're either afraid, or they've already left." Kate told the worried monk.

"There's someone behind us." A sailor cried.

Kate had hoped it was some townspeople, but as the group approached them, she could see the gleam of steel. It was the enemy.

"There are perhaps fifty of them, but I see only a few old matchlock muskets." Kate said to her men. "Those to the right of me, give them a volley. Those to the left, hold your fire until we see what they do. Ready?"

There was a roar of "yesses".

"Prepare." Then after a second, "Fire."

In addition to knocking down a dozen or more of the enemy, the volley caused the rest to fall back. They looked hesitant to Kate. She could see some of them starting to move away.

"Those on the left, prepare to fire." Kate checked the sailors on her right. They were almost done reloading. "Prepare." She gave them a few more seconds, then. "Fire."

The volley didn't knock as many of the Siamese down, as there were fewer now to be knocked down. But they did start to duck into alleyways and door fronts where they could take cover. Some could be seem running away.

"That should keep them…" Kate began.

"Captain. There are more in front of us."

Kate turned around and looked towards the harbor and safety. There was another mob of armed men headed towards them. The group behind them was now starting to come out of cover and move towards Kate and her party.

"We have to get past the new group. Fix bayonets. We'll march towards them and when were twenty yards away, we'll fire a full volley and go at them with a bayonet."

Smooth bore muskets were highly inaccurate. Anyone who intentionally hit a man-sized target at one hundred yards was just lucky. But from short range, a volley of lead musket balls three quarters of an inch in diameter could be devastating.

The sailors marched towards their foe. The Siamese stood where they were, not moving a bit. Several had firearms, but for whatever reasons, they didn't fire. They did crowd together so that their swords and spears formed a razor-sharp barrier between Kate's men and safety.

When they were barely fifteen yards away Kate yelled "Halt." That was quickly followed by "Prepare." And then, "Fire."

Thirty muskets and four pistols held by Kate and Rick tore into the enemy. Men fell, dead or dying. Those in front, even if only wounded were thrown back into their comrades behind them creating more chaos.

"Charge!" Kate screamed, drawing her sword. The charge was hardly necessary. All who could broke and ran. Kate's party hurried on towards the harbor, now only a hundred yards away.

Suddenly, Alexis screamed and fell, landing heavily in the muddy road.

"Alexis!" Screamed Rick and Kate together. They ran towards the girl.

"Where are you hit?" Kate demanded, pulling the redhead up.

"The bastards! Look what they did to me."

"What? What?" Her parents asked.

"Someone threw a chamber pot on me from one of the upper floors."

There was a moment of shocked relief and then laughter.

"This isn't funny!" Alexis screamed.

"We'll let you have a nice bath when we're back aboard ship and safe." Castle said. Then he added, "Assuming the bilge rats don't object to your smell."

"Not funny, Father." Alexis said as she was pulled to her feet.

Arriving at the docks, they found over a hundred people from the town milling around. The longboats from their ships had pulled away from the dock.

"Captain?" Called Princess L'Anie. "Is that you?"

"Yes! Why did you pull away from the dock?"

"Those people are desperate. They almost capsized one of the longboats trying to get away."

Zhu De spoke. "Let me speak to them. If we can organize them, we can all escape. Kate nodded and the monk began to speak to the people in their own language. It seemed to work as the group quieted down.

Kate called the boats in and the first of the refugees were loaded quickly on the boats and were taken to the _Revenge_ and the _Witch._ Everyone could hear gunfire and screams coming from the town and could see fires spreading everywhere, but everyone was loaded aboard with no casualties.

"Great. But how do we get out of here come morning?" Castle said, standing on the quarterback, watching the town burn.

"The pilot will take us out. He headed for the _Revenge_ in his own boat as soon as the fighting began." Kate sighed. "Now, what can we do between now and dawn?"

Rick took her hand and led her towards their cabin. "We'll think of something."

By the next morning both ships had safely left the port of Mergui. The question was, where to go next?


	5. Chapter 5

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

"We can't carry over a hundred people with us forever." Kate said, meeting with her family and her three Buddhist guests. "For one, it won't be safe. Too many people are looking for us. Even if that weren't the case, we have along way to go and we'll need the food and water we have to get there. A hundred extra mouths could kill us."

Zhu De nodded. "We could go to Yangon, the capitol. There are many Buddhist monasteries there. They will each take in a few of our passengers and earn merit by doing so. I have been to Yangon myself and know the way. I also have charts with me that show the latitude and longitude of Yangon."

And so, the ships sailed north and a bit west. Several days later they arrived at the port city of Yangon, a much larger place than Mergui. From the deck of their ships, they could see vast temples and magnificent palaces. Closer to the shore there were wharfs and warehouses. There were also European merchant ships, although none of them were powerful enough to threaten the _Revenge_ and the _Witch of Endor_. But word of their presence might reach more powerful ships.

To be on the safe side both ships flew the flag of France and Kate and the girls stayed below decks so as not to give anyone spying on them the idea that the infamous Captain Kate Beckett was aboard.

Soon after they anchored an officious and surly officer arrived with a well armed body of troops with him. Castle, as French Captain de Gaudet, greeted them with the monks acting as translators.

Zhu De spoke softly to Castle as the other monks kept the officer occupied.

"He is not at all happy about this. There are many Siamese raiders it seems and there are rebellions among the peasantry. He views our passengers as potential rebels."

Suddenly, the officer began to yell at Castle.

Zeng translated. "He says that the King demands that you hand over the smaller ship as His Majesty needs warships and European ships are more powerful than the local ships."

"Please advise him that my master, the King of France, owns this ship and would not let me give it up."

There was more yelling between the officer and Zeng, Thondup and Zhu De. Finally, the officer and his troops left.

"I didn't like that at all." Castle said. "We should man the guns, but keep the gun ports closed, so as not to let anyone know we're ready for trouble. Mr. Grey," He turned to the signal officer, "please signal Captain Ryan of our intentions."

Hearing the guns being manned, Kate and the girls came on deck but dressed in men's clothing, so as to not be noticeable.

"What happened?" Kate asked.

"It seems the king wants the _Witch_ and I'd guess the _Revenge_ as well. I'm just being careful."

Two boats headed for the _Revenge_ , both manned by saffron robed Buddhist monks. The monks chatted with Zhu De as the refugees were loaded. All seemed to be well. Both boats headed for shore.

"They took about a third of the people with them." Castle told his wife. "This may work out."

As they watched, two more boats, also manned by saffron robed monks headed from the docks towards the _Revenge_. As they approached, a lookout called out from the crow's nest.

"Ahoy the deck. The bottoms of these boats are covered on canvas, but I can see people moving underneath."

"Damn!" Kate said. "They must be full of soldiers." She raised her voice. "Stand by to repel boarders to the starboard." As soon as she spoke, several dozen armed men ran to the side of the ship. Castle and Zhu De went with them.

"Tell them to sheer off." Castle barked.

As Zhu De started to yell at the boats, the monks suddenly jumped overboard and began swimming for land. At the same time, dozens of soldiers swarmed out from under the canvas. Even without the monks rowing the boats, they had enough headway to reach the _Revenge_.

Castle saw the soldiers were armed with modern muskets rather than old fashioned matchlocks. As the soldiers aimed, Castle yelled "Fire." The muskets on both sides roared and spat our smoke and flame, as well as deadly lead balls.

Next, the gun ports on _Revenge_ were thrown open and a broadside was fired into the two boats, smashing them and gutting their crews. The few survivors swam for shore as rapidly as they could manage.

But above the cheering from the crew, Kate could hear Alexis' voice scream, "Daddy!" Kate turned to see her husband, down on the deck, bleeding.

She ran to him. "Castle! Where are you hit?"

Castle mumbled something, but then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted.

"Carry him to our cabin." Kate ordered.

Alexis and Priscilla were crying, calling his name, and trying to get as close to Castle as possible.

Kate stepped between Alexis, Priscilla and Castle.

"You two cannot panic!" She said firmly. "Castle is our only doctor. But you, Alexis, have assisted him on occasion and you have an excellent education. You too, Priscilla, are well educated. Now both of you get ahold of yourselves, or you can stay out of the great cabin."

Both young women made a visible effort to calm themselves.

"We're ready to do anything that we can." Alexis said.

The three followed the sailors carrying Castle. As the sailors laid Castle on the bed, Kate began taking out his medical equipment. She realized she had no idea what to do.

"I've been shot, haven't I?

Kate whirled around to see Castle staring at her. "Are you all right?" She asked, realizing at once that he was anything but all right.

"I'm much better now that I can see you. But, I need to know. Where was I shot?"

Kate checked his coat and shirt. "In the chest. The left hand side."

"You'll need to cut my coat and shirt away. It's a shame since I always liked this coat, but we don't want to move me. Anything could happen if I move too much."

Kate cut away Castle's clothing until he was naked from the waist up.

"Do I appear to be bleeding from the mouth?"

Kate checked him as he opened his mouth.

"I see no blood at all."

Castle coughed gently. There was still no blood.

"That's odd. A man who's been shot in the chest should have lung damage and that would mean I should be spitting up blood. Very curious. I can't recall seeing anything like this in the medical literature. Perhaps I can write a paper about this…."

"Castle! Focus. Tell me what to do."

"Right." Castle thought for a moment. "I have an idea. Run your hands over my chest. See if I have any bumps or lumps that weren't there before. You should know my body well enough by now. If not, I can give you lessons later."

Kate smiled at him and began running her hands over his chest.

"Here's something. There's a lump on your side that wasn't there before."

"That explains it."

"That explains what?" Kate demanded when Castle said nothing more.

"Oh, sorry. I seem to have gotten lucky. Well, meeting and marrying you is the luckiest thing…."

"Castle!"

"Again, sorry. I believe I might be in shock. I think the bullet hit my ribs and glanced off them and travelled along under the skin and muscles, then lodged where you found the lump. You need to remove it."

Kate nodded, but wasn't happy about operating on her husband.

"First you need to wash your hands and the instruments in alcohol. That rum we bought has the highest alcohol content. I'm not sure why, but Dr. Crawford in Glasgow swears that it reduces the death rate. And when you're done, you'll have to pour more alcohol onto the wound. Try to pour the alcohol into the wound so that it covers all of the wound track from the entry to where the bullet is."

Kate did so and was terrified when Castle groaned and passed out.

"Castle. Wake up." She whispered. "I need you to tell me what to do. Please."

His eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes. "Did you get the ball out?"

"No. I need for you to tell me what to do."

"Ah, yes. Of course. You need to get a scalpel. That's a very sharp knife."

"I have it, Father." Alexis said, handing it to Kate.

"You need to make a cross shaped incision, that's a cut, with the center of the cross over the center of the lump. Can you do that?"

Kate took a deep breath and made the cuts. "It's done."

"Can you see the musket ball?"

"No."

"Then you need to cut deeper. And you'll need Alexis or Priscilla to keep wiping the blood away so you can see what you're doing."

"I'll do that so Alexis can hand Mother the correct instruments."

Kate kept cutting.

"I see the ball." She said, thankfully.

"Good. Now make sure that you've cut away enough of me so that you can grasp the ball and pull it out cleanly. Use the forceps to pull it out."

Kate pushed the forceps into the open wound and pulled the lead ball out smoothly. She sighed in relief. But she sighed too soon.

"You're not done yet, Kate." Castle muttered weakly. "There's probably cloth from my coat and shirt in the wound. The cloth will rot if left in and cause corruption in the flesh."

Kate pushed the forceps back in and soon extracted two round, frayed pieces of cloth from Castle's coat and shirt.

"Now just to be sure, wash the wound, at both ends, with alcohol and sew the wounds up. Then place bandages over both wounds and wrap them tightly around my body."

Kate did as she was told.

"Thank you. Now, one more thing. Pour a good tot of rum into my mouth."

"Is your mouth injured?" Kate asked, alarmed.

"Not at all. But it will help me sleep."

Kate poured the rum into his mouth. He smiled up at her.

"I love you, Kate."

"I love you, too."

Kate left Alexis to watch over Rick. She told Priscilla to get some sleep so she could spell Alexis. She walked onto the quarterdeck of the _Revenge_ knowing she had more work ahead of her.

"Mr. Esposito, how many of the refugees from Mergui are still aboard?"

"Exactly seventy, ma'am. But three of them are prime seamen and wish to sign articles and join us. There are also four ladies that, em, that is…."

"Who also wish to join us." Kate thought about it. "We carry some sailors wives as it is, although I doubt any of the wives had the benefit of formal matrimony. Let them stay, but if they cause any trouble among the men, tell them they'll be put ashore. Now, what do we do with the rest of the refugees?"

Zeng stepped forward.

"I have discussed this with my colleagues. Several day's sail to the north is a town, called Thandwe, smaller than Yangon, but bigger than Mergui. There is a substantial monastery there and, to the best of the knowledge of our guests, there is no garrison. You can sail in without fear of attack by the government."

Kate could see no other option and sailed north. They arrived at the Thandwe, which was actually several miles inland. Kate sent Zhu De ashore with a small armed guard. He returned with several dozen young monks and three fishing boats that were soon filled with the refugees. However, another four local sailors and their families decided to stay aboard the _Revenge._ As the ship was always shorthanded, Kate was glad to sign them on.


	6. Chapter 6

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

As they loaded the refugees onto the fishing boats, they were passed by a slovenly looking European ship headed south. It flew no flag and nothing else about it gave away its identification. Kate did take the opportunity to buy fresh fruits, and livestock, including chickens, pigs and goats from the locals. She also sent a party ashore to get fresh water. By the time that was done, it was well after dark. Rather than sail through strange seas at night with a tired crew, Kate anchored her ships off shore, but kept a strong watch.

They sailed south at dawn, hoping that the navigational charts they had would take them to the island of Hainan and the rest of China.

"Sails ho!" Cried the lookout. "There's a dozen of sail dead ahead. Local ships by the look of them."

Kate scrambled up the ratlines with her telescope. She was able to see at least thirteen small ships sailing abreast with about a mile between them.

"What are they?" She muttered to herself. "A fishing fleet? A convoy?"

As she watched, the ships closed on each other and headed straight for her ships.

She slid down the ratlines.

"Mr. Esposito. Have the drummers beat To Quarters. I'm sure those are the Yangon king's ships, coming to try to take us. Signal Captain Ryan to take station astern of us."

"Captain?" Zhu De said. "I believe the ships will be very lightly armed with cannon and will try to close and board you. They are too small to carry more than four or five small cannons, but a hundred men can crowd aboard for a short journey. "

"Mr. Esposito, will you also rig our boarding nets, and advise Captain Ryan to do the same."

No sooner had she given the order than crewmen began rigging closely woven nets of thick rope from the deck to some ten feet above. The nets were kept loose so that anyone trying to board would have trouble climbing over them, or chopping a hole in them. And anyone busy trying to get over or through the net wouldn't be able to defend themselves.

Kate looked straight ahead, then astern. The enemy ships were now packed tightly together. And Ryan had closed up on the _Revenge._ Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Mr. Esposito, if you will. Send some musketeers to the main cabin. I don't want any borders to get in through the stern windows."

"Already done, Captain. But Dr. Castle and the girls were busy loading their weapons when I sent Jenkins and his people there."

"What?" Kate yelled and rushed to the main cabin. There she found her husband and her daughters amid stacks of loaded muskets and pistols. Alexis was putting an edge on her sword as she walked in.

"All three of you, to the cable tiers now." She barked, giving them all a glare.

Castle looked up from his seat on the bed. "The cable tiers? They're below the waterline and all the way to the front of the ship, aren't they?"

"They're in the bow. And they're as far away from the fighting as you can get on a ship. Now you three must go there. Now!"

"As the ship's doctor, I fear that I cannot allow my patient to be moved so far. And down ladders as well. My patient could fall and be hurt. No, I cannot allow it."

"And I must stay with the patient." Alexis said firmly.

"As must I." Priscilla added.

"I'm the captain of this ship and I order you to…."

Kate was interrupted by a call from the quarterdeck. "Captain Beckett! We're almost upon them. We need you on deck."

"We'll discuss this later." She growled, turning on her heel and returning to the quarterdeck.

Once back on the quarterdeck Kate saw they were only a few hundred yards from the enemy, and she also saw that they had crowded together right in front of the _Revenge._

"Open the gun ports!" She yelled. When she heard the ports being raised, she added, "Gun captains! You may fire when your guns bear."

Mere seconds later, Kate felt a sharp jar and heard timbers snapping and men screaming. The _Revenge_ had run over at least one of the small ships, sending it to the bottom. Then, one after the other, _Revenge's_ cannons began firing into the mass of ships. From her position by the ship's wheel, Kate could see the other ship's shorter masts go by and saw one fall after a blast of cannon fire. A small number of the enemy tried to board, but they were quickly shot down.

Suddenly, they were past the enemy ships. Kate rushed to the stern to see how the _Witch of Endor_ would fare. She smiled at the wreckage she saw. More than half the enemy ships were either sunk or sinking and only two were in good enough shape to still be able to steer. Never the less, they steered straight towards the _Witch_.

Both ships approached the _Witch_ from the port side, but as soon as they were alongside the _Witch,_ Captain Ryan gave then a broadside and sent a volley of musket fire into the packed ships. Kate could see pieces of ships, and of men, flying about. The _Witch_ sailed on leaving the wrecked ships in her wake.

"Mr. Esposito, please see to the ship's damage and casualties, and ask Captain Ryan to report the state of his ship and crew. I'll be in my cabin."

Kate was sure that no one had gotten near Castle and the girls, but there was always that horrible possibility that someone had gotten in a lucky shot. She breathed a sigh of relief, which she made sure no one else saw, when she saw all three were well.

"A most dissatisfying battle." Castle was saying. "I only fired my pistol so that I could truly say I'd fired a shot during a sea battle."

"Hardly worth all the effort we went to, loading the muskets and all."

"Mr. Jenkins, you are relieved." Kate snapped to the leader of the party of sailors that Esposito had sent. Hearing Kate's tone, they quickly left.

"I ordered all three of you to go to the cable tiers. You disobeyed a direct order."

"Mother…." Alexis began.

"Silence." Kate barked. "You and Priscilla are now assistant navigation officers under Mr. Zhu De. I expect you two to know every island, every reef, every sandbar, every floating log between here and China. Get to it. Now!"

The girls left quickly and Kate turned to her husband.

He spoke first. "You know, that little scrap has gotten me rather aroused. " He took her hand and led her to their bed. To his surprise, she pulled away.

"What? You wish to have sex? Why your doctor just said that you were far too injured to walk to the bow of the ship. I cannot allow you to take such a chance."

Castle was taken aback. "But I am the doctor. I say I'm fine."

Kate shook her head. "But I am the captain, and I must make the final decision. I believe that you are still too injured to have sex for another week."

"A week?" Castle howled. "You expect me to do without you for a week?"

"And while you have nothing else to do, you can consider the consequences of disobeying your captain's order when she only wishes to protect the man she loves so much."

The crew noticed that both Captain Beckett and Dr. Castle were quite grumpy for the next week. But they knew better than to comment on it. However, on the eighth day, both seemed in fine spirits, although the captain did seem to walk rather tenderly.

Days later, Kate woke to see land in the starboard. She and Castle quickly dressed and went to the quarterdeck. Zhu De and his two assistants were already there.

"That is the island of Sumatra to our right. It is mostly dominated by the Sultanate of Aceh. Soon, on our left, we'll see the Sultanate of Johor. If our maps are correct, there will be a narrow passage between the two. Then we will enter the South China Sea."

Their maps were correct, but they wouldn't enter the South China Sea as soon as they had anticipated.

"Ahoy the deck." Cried the lookout several days later. "Sails ahead. A dozen at least. One appears to be a European ship."

Kate cursed and grabbed her telescope. The strait had narrowed down and Kate didn't have much room to maneuver her ships. If the ships ahead were unfriendly…. If they were, she'd just have to deal with them. She snapped her telescope closed and returned to the quarterdeck.

As they approached the other ships, the lookout called out again. "There's a small boat heading to us flying a white flag."

"Perhaps they want a parley?" Castle suggested.

"Or they're giving us a chance to surrender."

The boat pulled peacefully along side and a small, rather chubby man climbed aboard. From head to toe he was dressed oddly. He had on one brown and one black shoe, both of which had large gold buckles. His hose were equally ill matched, one of red and the other of blue. His baggy culottes were an awful shade of purple and his coat a vibrant scarlet over a once white, now grey shirt. He doffed a tricornered hat, blue with a green feather and bowed low.

"Parley-vous Francais?"

As usual, Castle played the part of the captain so as to keep the infamous Captain Kate Beckett in the background.

"Just a bit. We're English. I'm Captain Roy Montgomery of the Honorable East India Company."

The man smiled widely. "Don Emiliano Ho, late of the service of the Governor of the Spanish Philippines, now serving the Sultan of Johor. Welcome, Captain Montgomery. We're glad that the Honorable Company has answered our call for help so quickly."

Castle raised an eyebrow. "Call for help? I'm afraid that's not us. We're here to explore the coast of China and the wide reaches of the Pacific Ocean."

"Of no matter." Ho insisted. "The Sultan and the Company are allies. We've signed a treaty and everything."

"Perhaps you could explain what you need our help for." Castle asked.

"Alas, the ladies of the Sultan's harem were out boating when a storm came up and blew them to the east. They were taken by a horrible pirate who calls himself the Dragon. The Sultan has offered money, but the Dragon would rather embarrass the Sultan by…."Ho caught sight of Kate and the girls and amended what he was about to say. "….distressing the poor ladies terribly. The Sultan would avenge this himself, but the Dragon has fortified a small island just east of the domains of the Sultan of Aceh. All we need is support from the guns of your fine ships and we'll take the devil."

Castle looked at Kate who nodded slightly.

"The Company will be pleased to be of assistance to the Sultan. But if I might ask a favor of you and the sultan?"

"Anything. Anything." Ho replied quickly.

"There are wealthy men in England who would reduce the Company to trading only with India, leaving the rest of Asia to a new company run by them. We really aren't supposed to be exploring China and the Pacific. Could you not mention our presence to any other European ships who pass by?"

Ho smiled. He knew that there were many reasons that the commander of a small force of well armed ships might wish that their movements not be reported. It was even possible that it was for the reason that Captain Montgomery gave. "Of course. Of course. And in recognition of your fine work, we'll provide you with fresh food, water and anything else you need."

Once Ho had left, the Castle's went back to their cabin where Kate changed from the dress she had worn as the wife of "Captain Montgomery" and into her usual clothing.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Her husband asked.


	7. Chapter 7

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

"If we don't help the Sultan out, he'll complain to the Company and it won't take them long to figure out who we really are. This way the Sultan owes us and he'll keep his mouth shut, at least we hope he will. And all we have to do is provide some gunfire support."

But, as it turned out, that was not all they had to do.

When Kate and Rick came on deck, they saw there was a great deal of commotion aboard the _Witch_.

"Signal from Captain Ryan, Captain." The signal officer reported smartly. "Princess L'Anie has decided to go ashore with her people. After what happened to her, being taken as a slave and all, she wants to help the poor women. And with your permission, Captain Ryan wishes to lead his Irish troops ashore with the princess."

Scanning the _Witch_ through her telescope, Kate could see the deck was crowded with both L'Anie's African warriors and the red-coated troops Ryan had recruited from the French Irish Brigade, the Wild Geese.

Kate sighed. "Signal Captain Ryan that I'll lead a force from the _Revenge_ ashore myself."

"I'll go with you." Castle said at once.

"And so will we." Alexis and Priscilla said in unison.

"You two will stay here or I'll have you in the brig on bread and water for a month."

"Mother!" The girls cried.

" _Two_ months and I mean it."

The small fleet sailed down the coast of the Sultanate of Aceh and by the next evening, they were opposite the island that the Dragon had fortified, but some miles out at sea. They agreed that they would sail to the island at first light and attack as soon as they arrived.

An hour after dawn Kate led her small fleet towards the fort. Native pilots had assured her that the water was at least ten fathoms deep until you got within three hundred yards of the shore, but she had the leadsmen in the chains taking depth soundings just the same.

Coming abreast of the forts, she opened fire. First the guns on the starboard side of the _Revenge_ opened fire, followed quickly by the guns of the _Witch of Endor_. As the two warships sailed slowly by the fort, they poured broadside after broadside into the enemy. Then they tacked and sailed back the way they had come, blasting the enemy with their port guns.

"Captain?" A sailor approached her, tugging at his forelock.

"What is it, Graham?"

"I got one of the balls that them's shootin' at us. Thought you'd like to see it."

He held out a small round iron ball and handed it to Kate. It was still warm from being fired. She hefted it in her hand.

"A three pounder I'd make it." Kate said.

Graham smiled. "Right you are. Why, a three pounder could hardly break the glass in the windows in the great cabin."

"Make sure none of the windows get broken, Graham, and there'll be an extra tot of rum for you and the rest of the gun crews. I like the windows the way they are."

The man pulled at his forelock again and ran back to his gun.

Kate put her telescope to her eye and looked at the enemy and their fortifications. Some hundred yards from the beach was a wall made from lengths of bamboo woven together. It ran from a small, but fast flowing stream for about six hundred yards to the edge of the jungle. Kate noticed that the cannon balls went straight through the bamboo, but being very springy, the bamboo went back into place leaving only a small hole behind. As the ships tacked again and resumed firing with the other broadside Kate was happy to see gaps appearing in the bamboo.

"Mr. Esposito, the gun crews should try to fire at the existing holes in that bamboo to widen them for our assault."

"Aye, Captain" The burly Hispanic replied as he ran to the nearest gun crew.

Three more times the two warships sailed up and down, firing at the bamboo wall. Then came a call from the lookout.

"Ahoy, the deck. Yon rascals are running for it. Them what's left."

Kate checked with her telescope. Sure enough, the enemy were running for it. They were headed over a hill behind them. She could just barely make out some sort of structure peeking up over the top of the hill. She hoped it wasn't another fort.

"Mr. Esposito, you will take command of the ship in my absence. Call away the landing party and begin loading the ship's boats. Signal to Captain Ryan that we'll land now. Hopefully the Sultan's people will see us and follow." She headed for the assembling landing party, then turned. "And make damned sure that Alexis and Priscilla remain here on the ship!"

As the boats were loaded, Kate checked that each man had a musket, bayonet, powder and shot, as well as a cutlass. As she started down into the boats, she saw Alexis and Priscilla, dressed in men's clothing, standing between two burly sailors. The sailors smiled at Kate. The girls did not.

"Are you ready, Castle?" She asked.

"To follow you? Always."

They landed on the beach with no problems and got through the holes in the bamboo stockade. Once through, Kate formed Ryan's troops and sailors up on the right and her own landing party on the left. The rest of the Sultans troops formed up where ever they felt like it. Some to the left of the Europeans, some to the right, some in front and some in back. All were noisy and raucous, with a great deal of pushing and shoving. Kate noticed that Don Emiliano Ho was conspicuous by his absence.

Rick motioned ahead of them.

"It looks like they didn't all runaway."

Kate looked to where her husband pointed. Sure enough, on the crest of the hill she could see a mass of men forming up in one clumsy mob. She scanned them with her telescope.

"I see very few muskets. I suggest we march up the hill and give them a volley. Then we'll see what happens."

"That's your plan?"

"Do you have a better one?"

"I do."

"What is it then?"

"It involves a bottle of rum and you naked."

Kate laughed. "We'll do both plans. Mine now and yours tonight."

Kate noticed that Zhu De had come with them, although he was unarmed.

"Can you tell the Sultan's men not to charge until we've fired a volley at the enemy?"

The monk nodded and began yelling orders. There was a lot of yelling back and forth. From their facial expressions Kate guessed some didn't like the orders and some didn't understand them. Shrugging, she gave the order to her men to begin marching up the hill.

At least one or two of the drummer boys had come along. Kate could hear the tap-tap-tap of drums as the red-coated Irish soldiers marched up the hill. The sailors in the landing party did not march as well as the well-trained troops did, but they did keep pace, neither falling behind nor going ahead.

"The drums seem to have calmed down the Sultan of Johore's men." Zhu De said quietly. "They're marching, as best as they can, in order somewhat like European troops."

"We'll see how well they do when the shooting starts." Kate replied.

As the small army marched more or less silently up the hill, the enemy pirates began to get uneasy. They were used to the local armies that made as much noise as they could. They had heard of European armies and of their power but had never actually faced one.

Kate ordered her men to halt some twenty five yards from the enemy. Someone fired a musket at the Irish, but it must have missed as Kate saw no one fall.

"Musketeers! Ready your pieces." She shouted.

The soldiers and sailors brought their muskets to full cock.

"Present!" Kate shouted. Everyone brought their muskets to their shoulders.

This was quickly followed by…

"Fire!"

The volley of musket fire tore through the ranks of the enemy. A gaping hole appeared in the middle enemy's ranks. Kate smiled, seeing that the enemy was wavering.

"Charge! Give them the bayonet."

Kate's entire small army surged forward. For a second their enemies stood firm, but in the twinkling of an eye, they were running.

As the army charged, Kate lost all control as each man went after whoever was closest to him.

"That must be the Dragon's headquarters." Castle yelled to her over the din of combat, pointing to a large bamboo building that stood above a crowd of one story buildings, shacks and tents." That's be where the women are, I'll bet."

"You would know where the women are." Kate teased.

"I always know where _the_ woman is."

The two headed for the large building with a pistol in one of their hands and a sword in the other. They entered the building to find it deserted. Laying about what they took to be some sort of throne room were liquor bottles, remnants of food, clothing, overturned furniture, and the detritus of war. At the far end of the room was bamboo throne. Sitting on the throne was a slender Chinese man. When they came closer, they saw his throat had been slit from ear to ear.

"I'd guess that's the Dragon." Rick said. "I wonder who killed him?"

Before Kate could answer, there was an enormous blast that rocked what must have been the Dragon's palace to its foundations.

"Someone found the powder magazine." Rick said. "We should get out of here before the place falls down on us."

As he turned to leave, the floor he stood on gave way and he fell into the darkness.

He landed on something soft and then something soft landed on him. It took him a second to realize that the somethings that were soft were women, and naked women at that. More than a dozen naked women were piling on top of him, crying and wailing in a language he didn't understand.

"Get awa' with ye, ye sluts!" Bellowed a voice and Castle felt the weight of women being lifted off of him.

A barrage of cursing saw the last of the women scattering away from Rick.

"Are ye English?" A voice demanded.

Castle found himself looking at a tall blonde who was every bit as naked as the other women.

"Doctor Richard Castle, at your service, Ma'am."

"Bluidy fookin' hell. We're saved."

"And you are?"

"Sorry. I'm Ann Hastings. I wuz on the Indiaman _Ceres_ what ran aground a year back off the coast o' the Sultan o' Jahore's lands. There weren't enough boats fer us all, so me and others wuz left behind. The bastards never come back fer us and eventually I was took by the Sultan fer his harem."

"Don't worry, Miss Hastings. We'll see to it that you're returned to India. Perhaps even back to England."

"Fook that." Hastings snorted. "Back in Inja I'd be spreadin' me legs fer some fool like me old man Davey, what run off an' left me. In the harem, the grub is good and the ol' bugger Sultan ain't tupped me but once. An' the old goat could hardly manage. An' I got this old gal, Maria de Jesus Santos y Feced, she be Spanish like, an' been in the harem since just after Adam an' Eve. She's taught me to read. The Sultan has him lots o' books. No, I'm better off in the harem."

Before Castle could reply, Kate dropped down through the hole Castle fell through and fell onto several naked women. Kate fell on her quite lovely ass.

"Castle?" She said, looking around.

"Git yer own, ye skinny slut.' Ann shot back. "I seen him first."

As Kate drew her sword, Rick stepped between her and Hastings.


	8. Chapter 8

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

''Miss Hastings, may I introduce you to my wife, Captain Kate Beckett."

"Bluidy hell. The best ones is always taken, ain't they?"

Rick explained who the women were.

Kate grinned. "And, you got them all undressed before I could get here?"

Castle shook his head. "I _found_ them this way." He said, feigning anger.

Kate looked around. "Is there a way out of here?"

Hastings pointed back over her shoulder. "There be a door back there, but it be locked from the other side."

"We have four pistols between us. We should have no trouble." And indeed they didn't.

Kate sent the women off to find clothing and then tracked down Ryan.

"What's happened, Kevin?"

"Most of the pirates have escaped into the jungle. It'd take days to track them down."

Kate shook her head. "No point in it. We've got who we came for."

At that moment Don Emiliano Ho arrived.

"I fear I have bad news, Captain." He said, addressing Rick.

"What?"

"A British squadron has arrived in Johor, led by a razee with three other frigates and several brigs and sloops. I fear that they report that they are searching for an infamous female pirate. They have a drawing of her. She looks much like your wife, Captain Montgomery, but that cannot be, for you are an honorable officer of the East India Company and your good wife is obviously a lady. The Sultan has not mentioned your presence, but it might be more politic for you to not return to Johor."

"You may be correct." Rick said.

"We cannot now provide you with food, water and ammunition, but there is plenty of rice here, plus fish and live chickens, geese, sheep and cattle. There is water also. Regrettably, there is no gunpowder as their magazine exploded. We did get a bit of gold, of which you can have half."

Ho motioned to a man beside him who handed Castle a small chest with a few hundred gold coins in it. Castle wondered just how much had actually been found, but mentally shrugged it off.

"And now, Captain Montgomery, I must return the ladies of the harem to the Sultan." Ho bowed and walked away.

It took some time for Ho to round up everyone as many were looting the pirates lair and paid little attention to him. As he slowly managed to gain control, Ann Hastings came to see Castle. Kate put her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Don't be getting' upset, missus." Ann said. "I ain't after yer man. But, once 'Is Nibs leaves, ye might try kickin' in the wooden screen behind old Dragon's throne. The old bastard kept the good stuff fer his self." She winked at Rick and was gone.

As Ryan foraged for food and water, Rick and Kate went back to the Dragon's throne room. They found the Dragon stripped naked and much the worse for wear. Apparently more than one person had decided to take out their anger on his corpse.

They shoved his bamboo throne aside and Kate examined the intricately carved screen behind it.

"There's something back there all right. And I think I can see a bar across the screen from inside."

Kate drew her dagger and began trying to raise the bar. After a few minutes, the screen was opened and they saw several chests. They opened the first.

"Gold coins. There must be thousands." Castle said.

Kate checked the other two.

"There are jewels and silver and gold items in this one. Here's a golden plate, a gem encrusted cross…We have quite a haul here."

"We should wait until we're sure Ho and his people are gone before we move this back to the _Revenge_." Then Castle thought of something. "By the way, what's a razee? From what Ho said it has to be some kind of a ship."

"It's small ship of the line, usually 62 to 74 guns that's had one gun-deck removed, or razed, to make the ship into a large frigate. Usually they mount 44 to 48 guns. We could probably outrun one but we could never outfight one. With some conventional frigates and smaller ships, we'd be heavily outgunned."

"Do you think Ho was telling the truth? Maybe he just wanted to get rid of us without having to provide us with food, water, powder, shot, ropes and what not."

"Do you want to go back to Johor and find out?"

"I'd rather spend the night with you."

"Good choice, Dr. Castle. Good choice."

By nightfall the small fleet had loaded all of the food and water they could find, and the loot from the Dragon's hoard and were sailing away from Johor.

That night, Kate and her family met with the three Buddhists at dinner in the main cabin.

"Do we have any real idea where the Island of Hainan is from here?" She asked.

The three monks looked at each other and then shook their heads.

"I'm afraid not, Captain." Said Thondup. "We do know that it's north and probably somewhat west of our current position, but so is most of Asia."

"Any suggestions?"

"If we sail across the South China Sea, we'll hit the Spanish colony of the Philippines. Once we make landfall in the Philippines, we can find our way to the capitol, Manila. The Spaniards have been in this part of the world for centuries. I'm sure they can provide us with proper navigational charts."

"They won't provide anything to pirates." Alexis said.

Castle shrugged. "What pirates? I'm Captain de Gaudet of the French Royal Navy. France and Spain have long been allies against England. I'm sure our Spanish friends won't begrudge us a few maps."

They sailed along the jungle covered coast of a large island. They stopped to ask a fishing craft if this was the Philippines. However, they found they had no common language.

The next several boats sailed away from them as fast as they could.

"Something's wrong." Kate said, watching yet another small boat race away from them and into shallow water where the _Revenge_ and the _Witch_ couldn't follow.

"The area is known for piracy and I know that the Dutch to the south of us and the Spaniards often go to war out here. Ships of other nations get attacked or do the attacking as well." Castle said. "We should be careful as well."

"Ahoy the deck." Cried the lookout. "There's a cloud of smoke dead ahead. It's probably on land as I don't think there's a ship big enough to make that much smoke if it caught fire."

Kate peered through her telescope. There was a lot of smoke and it appeared to be some distance away.

"We'll check it out. Fire usually means people. Maybe someone knows if we're near the Philippines."

In this case, fire did mean people. But not the kind they wanted to meet.

Rounding a point, the two ships saw an entire town ablaze.

"Look at all the boats." Castle said. "Neighbors must have come to put out the fire."

"Those aren't neighbors." Kate said, putting down her telescope. "They started the fires. Those are raiders."

Seeing two large warships approaching, the raiders took to their boats.

"There must be a hundred war proas there." Zhu De said.

"War proas?" Kate asked.

"The local boats. They're catamarans, that is they have two hulls. They're quite fast and can carry a large cargo. Or a large amount of warriors in this case."

"We have the weather gauge." Kate said. "A few broadsides will teach them better manners."

But no broadsides were fired. Each proa was filled with not only warriors, but men, women and children taken as slaves. Kate, regrettably, let them pass.

Some days later, Don Tomaso Legazpi y Calderon, the Captain General of the Philippines, was advised that two French warships were outside of Manila harbor and requesting permission to enter. Don Tomaso, who's ancestry went back to a Visigothic freebooter named Gelimer who had gained his title of nobility by stabbing his lord in the back and leading a successful raid against the Moors, was enormously proud of his long and mostly illustrious ancestry. He looked at the letter written by the French commander to request entrance and noted that the man was not an aristocrat.

"What kind of a world do we live in, Don Alfonso?" He asked his second in command.

Don Alfonso knew a rhetorical question when he heard it. He made no reply. Don Tomaso made his own reply.

"Asia is dominated by British and Dutch heretics and even the French give command of squadrons to peasants. The aristocracy, the Catholic aristocracy, is meant to rule. Why has God let this happen?"

Don Alfonso, not having heard from God on that topic, decided to change the subject.

"What answer should we make to this Captain de Gaudet?"

"Oh, let the French bastard in and allow him to buy whatever he needs. Just keep the whole lot away from me."

The Captain General of the Philippines had far more important things to worry about.

The captain of the _Revenge_ was more than happy to keep away from the Spanish colonial government.

Esposito, now Don Javier de la Cruz y Paloma, visited the harbormaster. He was an old salt who also had no aristocratic blood in his veins and had no use for his superior, the Captain General. He recognized Don Javier as a man like himself, on spite of the latter's title of Don.

"Don Javier, will you have a glass of wine with me?" He asked politely.

Don Javier was happy to accept the harbormaster's hospitality.

Many glasses of wine later, Don Javier left the harbormaster happily snoring. He had what Captain Kate had asked for, nautical charts that would lead them to the island of Hainan.

The South China Sea is filled with small islands, some only above the sea at low ride, as well as many rocks, reefs and sand bars. The charts they had from the Spanish were good, but they could hardly be accurate enough to allow the two ships to sail speedily to Hainan. But, within days they were approaching that island.

"Ahoy the deck. Many sails dead ahead. I make them to be local craft. Junks they is called."

Before Kate could train her telescope ahead the lookout cried out again.

"Damn me. There's more junks to our port and starboard. There must be a hundred of them."

Kate didn't bother with her telescope.

"Mr. Esposito! Prepare to come about. We need to get out of here."

"Too late." Castle said. "They're behind us as well. Who do you think they are?"

"I don't know." Kate replied. "But any fleet that large is probably from some Chinese navy or another. Or some pirate fleet. We don't want to run into either one. Not when they outnumber us so badly and have us surrounded. I wish I knew who they were."

"They are the fleet of the pirate called the Dragon." Said a voice.

It took Kate a second to realize that Chen Suay Den, the girl who could only speak a bit of broken English now seemed to speak the language perfectly.

"And how do you know this, Miss Chen?"

"Because I am the Dragon." She replied simply.


	9. Chapter 9

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

"It seems foolish of you to announce yourself while you're still in our power."

The Dragon laughed. "Captain Beckett. Please don't talk like that. If I had wished you any harm I would not have slipped off your ship in Ceylon and poisoned that odious Vaughn. Nor would I have gone ashore with you so that I could slip into the jungle and slit the throat of that oaf who stole my name and reputation. I have no desire to hurt you and I may be able to do you a favor. Can we go to the main cabin to discuss this further?"

Kate agreed, but insisted that her family, the three monks and Esposito be there as well.

Once in the main cabin, the young Chinese pirate told her tale.

"China is currently ruled by the Manchurians, called the Manchu dynasty. Before that, the Ming dynasty ruled. My grandfather was the Ming Duke of Chou, a very wealthy and powerful man in the empire. When the Manchus took the capital, Beijing, he gathered loyal soldiers and followers and retreated south. He fought for many years, as did my father, but eventually they were defeated. While my father still lived, he sent me to sea. Oh, I know, good Chinese woman aren't supposed to be warriors, but times were very difficult. I found I had a talent for sea warfare." Chen smiled. "Far more talent than the land bound, horse riding Manchus. I gathered men, and women, who opposed the Manchus. As you can see, there are very many of us." She sighed. "Not enough, by any means, but a lot."

She turned to Zhu De. "Forgive me Master. I did wish to study the teachings of Buddha, but I also went to Taprobane to try to get modern weapons for my ships and possibly recruit European mercenaries to my cause. But the French, Dutch and English are too busy fighting each other and would rather trade with the Manchus than help a band of ragged pirates."

"You said you could possibly do us a favor. What is it?"

"When I again slipped off your ship in Manila, I met with one of my agents there. I gave him sufficient information to see to it that my fleet would intercept your ships at a place of my choosing. I also gained some information from him. Information you might be interested in."

"And that is?"

"Do you know of the Manila galleon?"

Kate nodded. "It's a large ship that carries the products of China and the East across the Pacific to Acapulco in New Spain and from there across the Atlantic to Spain. It's a very wealthy ship."

"And it's no longer Spanish." Chen said with a smile.

"How is that?"

"It was taken by a European renegade that claims to be fighting for the long vanished Ming dynasty. In fact, he calls himself de Ming, indicating of the Ming. With your help, we can take the ship back."

"Take it back?" Kate was curious as to what the young woman was proposing. "For the Spanish?"

"No. For ourselves."

Kate looked at the pirate fleet gathered around her two ships.

"And why would you need our ships? You have plenty pf your own."

The Dragon shrugged. "One can never have enough ships. However, there is a better explanation than that. The Manila galleon is much like your East India ships. They are very large ships and very heavily armed for a merchantman. Their crews are larger as well. When this de Ming took the galleon, both his ship and the galleon were heavily damaged. According to my spies both ships are now on the island of Taiwan near Koxinga's old fort."

"Koxinga?" Rick asked.

"He was another Ming dynasty loyalist, but he died many, many years ago before the Manchu's took over almost all of China. But Taiwan is a minor province to them. It has little of value, hence there are few troops there. De Ming will be safe there if he doesn't take too long to repair his ships."

The Dragon smiled. "Luckily, de Ming is a pig. Instead of hiring locals to help repair his ships, and paying for food and drink for his men, he captured men and women to work on the ships and raided for supplies. The locals, although poorly armed have besieged him. It will take several months for his men to repair his ships."

"And why do you need us?" Kate repeated.

"I went to Ceylon, as you call it, to try to buy modern cannons for my ships. My cannons are nowhere as good as yours. De Ming has his ships moored parallel to the shore, so he can concentrate the broadsides of both ships on any ship entering the harbor. The galleon mounted twenty-four 24 pounders, twelve to a side. But de Ming has sixteen guns on the side facing the sea and has the rest ashore and well dug in. His own ship is a frigate like your _Revenge_. It mounts 36 guns, mostly eighteen pounders with a few twelve pounders. But, twenty of the larger guns are now mounted facing the sea, the rest are ashore, also well dug in. I need your ships to engage de Ming's ships. I'll land my own people and attack him from the shore. We'll split the treasure from the galleon seventy-thirty, with you getting seventy percent. I get the ships, cannons and any weapons and gunpowder. I think that's a fair offer."

Kate looked around. "I'll need to discuss this with my people. Will you excuse us, Dragon?"

"Certainly. But my name is really Chen Suay Den, or Water Lily Chen. Please call me Miss Chen, or Lily."

"We'll consider your offer, Miss Chen."

As soon as Miss Chen had left, Kate sent for Captain Ryan. When he arrived, Kate explained who Chen was and what she had offered.

Ryan smiled. "The treasure from a Manila galleon? Three English ships have captured Manila galleons over the years and they made every member of the crew rich with the plunder. What are we waiting for?"

"We'll have to fight two ships that are moored inshore and have landed guns that are sited behind thick ramparts. We could get shot to bits." Kate replied.

Zhu De cleared his throat. "Perhaps I can be off assistance, Captain." He spread a chart on the table. "This is a chart of Tainan harbor where this de Ming is. As you can see, the harbor entrance is rather narrow, but the harbor itself is quite broad. Once inside, you can sail back and forth firing at long range. Your job, after all, is to distract the pirates while Lady Chen lands her troops and destroys them from their unguarded landward side."

Kate carefully examined the chart. "I still don't like risking damage to my ships like this."

They discussed the matter and then called on Miss Chen to come back in.

"Miss Chen, we have a counter offer." Kate said. "I don't want my own ships damaged or even sunk. What I propose is that we split the cargo of the galleon fifty-fifty, but any damage to my ships will be made good by taking parts from de Ming's ships. If my _Revenge_ is sunk, I get the galleon. If the _Witch_ is sunk, I get de Ming's frigate. If all four ships are sunk, you have to help me get two new, comparable ships."

Chen thought. "A hard bargain, but a fair one. Accepted. Shall we set sail at high tide?"

The fleet, with _Revenge_ and the _Witch_ in the vanguard, sailed across the South China Sea. Miss Chen landed her troops south of the pirates' lair. It took almost a day to get everyone ashore and Miss Chen thought they could make it to Tainan by late the next day. She would attack at dawn on the following day, as would Kate and her two ships.

Dawn of the second day saw Kate's ships sailing in, but there was no sign of any attack from the landward side.

Kate surveyed the harbor. It was Larger than she had thought, and there was a nice breeze blowing that would allow them to tack back and forth in the harbor. Turning to the two enemy ships, she could see that they were prepared for battle.

"Mr. Esposito, you may begin firing when you are ready." She ordered. Then she and Castle began the odd dance that they always did when in action. Castle would try to get between her and any danger and she would move to place herself between Castle and danger. As usual, the dance ended with the first cannon shot.

"We're eight hundred yards from the galleon." Rick said. "Our cannon balls won't do too much damage, but we do have the advantage of shooting at a stationary target while we're moving."

Kate nodded distractedly. She was watching the effect that her cannons were having on the enemy ships. The sturdy Manila galleon didn't seem to be affected at all. She saw several cannon balls bounce off the sturdy oak hull. When they came abreast of the piratical frigate, they had more of an effect. But, they were only shooting away rigging and damaging some sails.

Then something at the ramparted battery just beyond the frigate caught her eye.

"Castle, what do you make of that? There by the battery."

Castle frowned. "Odd. That almost looks like the air is distorted as if by a fire. But why would they light a fire on a day like this? It'll be quite hot in a few more hours when the sun is directly overhead and …."

"It'll be hot for us. They're heating round shot until it's red hot. When it hits our ships, it'll start fires."

Kate turned to Esposito. "They're getting ready to use hot round shot. Bring out hoses and put men on the pumps. Signal Ryan to do the same." She watched as men ran about getting ready for red hot shot.

"Wouldn't the hot shot cause the cannon to fire when the shot is pushed up against the powder charge?" Castle asked.

"They ram a wad of wet clay down the barrel of the gun before they put the ball in. That'll keep the gunpowder from going off long enough for them to aim and fire."

"Fascinating."

Before Kate could say anything, a red spark shot out of the gun battery and headed for the _Revenge_. It landed in the water some hundred yards away.

"So far so good." Kate muttered.

The second shot was better aimed, but it only glanced off the mainmast, showering the deck with sparks. They were quickly extinguished.

The third shot hit the hull of the _Revenge_ and penetrated halfway through her timbers.

"Get a party over the side and play a hose over the shot." Kate yelled, then looking at her position, she called to Esposito. "Mr. Esposito, prepare to go about."

The ship turned slowly and seemed to slow down just as the wind was blowing straight across the deck, from side to side, not catching the sails at all. For a second Kate thought they would be in irons and unable to move. Then the momentum of the ship moved them further, the wind caught the sails, and the ship began moving again.

"What about the shot in our hull?" Kate demanded.

A sailor stuck his head up over the gunnel and yelled. "Yon ball is now as cold as a brothel keepers heart, Captain. There's planks that be stove in, though. But they be well above the waterline."

Kate's gunners were getting the range on the enemy, but by the same token, they were getting the range on the _Revenge_ and the _Witch_. The enemy frigate was beginning to take damage to both the rigging and the hull, but Kate could see her cannon balls bouncing of the hull of the galleon without doing any damage, although some damage was being done to the ship's masts. That didn't affect the ability of the ship to fight however.


	10. Chapter 10

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

 **Author's note: There is a brief M rated section in this. It begins with "Two people at a time can use it." And ends with ""You forgot to pour any water on us." She said.**

"We could do more damage if we engaged the enemy more closely." Esposito suggested.

Kate thought for a brief second, then shook her head. "They could do more damage to us as well. Especially the galleon's twenty-four pounders."

As if to impress that fact upon them, a shot from the galleon smashed into one of the _Revenge's_ cannons, smashing part of the muzzle, dismounting the gun from its carriage and killing or maiming most of the crew. She saw her husband running towards the wounded and had to suppress a desire to run to him to protect him. But nothing would protect either of them from a cannon ball, plus her place was on the quarterdeck, commanding her two ships. She turned back to Esposito.

"Besides, we're here to provide a distraction while Miss Chen attacks from the landward side."

"Speaking of Miss Chen, where is she?" Esposito demanded.

Kate could only shrug.

"Captain!" Cried to lookout, high above. "I see a good bit of smoke coming from the _Witch_."

Kate ran to the stern. Sure enough, she could see back smoke rising from Ryan's ship and she caught a quick glimpse of fire. Ryan pulled the _Witch_ out of line and away from the battle so he could concentrate on fighting the fire.

In the meantime, both of the pirate ships were able to concentrate their fire on the _Revenge_. Kate scanned the two ships with her telescope. All of the guns seemed to be in operation and the gunners seemed to have gotten into a rhythm. Suddenly, she saw a tall European dressed in gaudy silk brocaded clothing standing on the galleon's quarterdeck, screaming and pointing to her. She guessed that he was de Ming and she also guessed that he had recognized her, or her ships.

It was time to wear ship and tack. Once again, they would sail towards the battery firing red hot shot, but this time there would be only one target for everyone. She glanced at the _Witch_ and was happy that she could see no flames and the smoke seemed to be lessening. That didn't mean that there still wasn't a fire where she couldn't see it.

"Once more unto the breach." She muttered, repeating something she'd read as a young girl.

The _Revenge_ sailed back into the teeth of the battery firing red hot shot. The _Revenge_ took a 24-pounder shot in the hull which penetrated. Esposito told her that three men had been killed and six wounded. However, the only damage to the ship was some planks of the hull that had been stove in, fortunately above the waterline.

The first of the red-hot shot hit a good three hundred yards from them.

"Keep shooting badly, you bastards." Esposito muttered from beside her.

The second red hot shot smashed through the bulwark, skipped across the deck, leaving scorch marks behind it and bouncing over the side having done no more damage. The next shot hit the mizzenmast, gouging a bit out of it. Esposito ordered that the mast be shored up.

While watching the shore battery, Kate had momentarily forgotten the other ships firing at her. She felt a jolt as something hit the _Revenge_ from the stern.

A minute later a sailor ran up to her from below.

"Beggin' yer pardon, Captain. There's bad news. That shot from the bluidy galleon hit the head in the main cabin. There be shit all over. And yer collapsible canvas bath tub is all rags."

"I suppose I'll have to sleep with the windows open tonight. "Kate said with a smile,

The man laughed and ran off.

"Ahoy the deck." Called the lookout. "I can see Miss Chen and her Chinee army. They're attacking the first battery and some's heading for the galleon."

Fire slackened to almost nothing and then nothing.

Chen's troops overran the galleon and then the frigate. The red-hot shot battery was empty by the time they got there.

The _Revenge_ slowly sailed to the galleon. Kate could see Chen standing on the quarterdeck, waving at her. She turned about to see the _Witch_ slowly following her. As the ship grew closer, Kate called across to Ryan.

"How's the damage, Ryan?"

Captain Kevin Ryan, hatless and smoke stained called back. "Some decking and some strakes are damaged and we'll need to replace one of the foremast's yards, but nothing we can't handle. "

The _Revenge_ bumped lightly against the galleon. Chen greeted Kate as she scrambled up the side of the ship on a rope ladder thoughtfully thrown over the side.

"Welcome to the _Santisima Trinidad_ , Captain Beckett. How are your ships?"

"Fair, but we'll need to cannibalize some things to make our ships right again."

"Take what you need. De Ming won't mind a bit." Chen gestured over her shoulders to a pair of legs in a garish set of brocaded silk pantaloons. Above the pantaloons was mass of blood, bone and flesh. "One of your last cannon balls hit him."

"I'll send my carpenter and his mates over and those from the _Witch._ I want to make my repairs, load my cargo and leave."

Two days of steady work by the crews of Beckett's two ship, helped by Chen's people, had both ships repaired and loaded with not only cargo, but fresh water and fresh provisions. Better yet, Chen had found that both the _Santisma Trinidad_ and de Ming's ship, the _Terror_ , were loaded with plenty of powder and shot. Although not required to by the terms of their agreement, Chen allowed Beckett to replenish the ammunition she had expended in their battle and take a cannon for the one destroyed in the battle.

The head in the main cabin had been cleaned and repairs done. All of the shit that had covered the cabin had been cleaned up. However, the sailmaker was still too busy to make another canvas bathtub for Kate's use. She decided she could just wash herself off in a bowl and remove all of the dirt and grime that resulted from her work over the last two days. She stripped and poured some lukewarm water into a ceramic bowl.

"Ah, there you are. And dressed properly for what I have in mind." Her husband said, entering their cabin.

"I don't think we can both fit in this tiny bowl." Kate teased. "Although I do like being close to you dressed like this. But you're wearing too much clothing."

Castle quickly undressed and then opened the cabin door. Kate glared at him and grabbed her shirt to cover herself. "Castle! Someone could see me."

"No chance. I told everyone to stay well away from the main cabin. I just had to bring in this."

This was a large tin drum. Steam was rising from the drum, indicating hot water was inside.

"Thank you, Castle. I can easily get my legs in that and wash myself off."

"Ah, but that's not what this is for. I've had the ship's carpenter make some additions to the head."

Castle explained what the additions were. The large tin drum could be hoisted up by a system of pulleys and then poured into smaller container that had holes punched in its bottom.

"You stand under it and pull this cord and hot water pours down on you. I call it the artificial hot rain shower. I predict that soon no ship will be without one. And do you know the best part?"

"What is the best part?" Kate said, certain she already knew.

"Two people at a time can use it."

Castle stood under his artificial hot rain shower and pulled Kate to him. He kissed her deeply and tenderly and then with more passion. He used one had to cup one taut cheek of her ass while the other stroked her pert breasts. He tweaked her hard nipples as she reached for his erection and stroked it as well. He soon moved his hand from her ass, sliding one finder into her already wet pussy, using his thumb to stroke her clit.

"I can't wait." She muttered in his ear. "Now, Castle. Now."

She put her arms around his neck and pulled herself up, then lowered herself, impaling herself on him. She moved up and down frantically as he bounced her up and down as well. It took only a few minutes for them both to climax.

"You forgot to pour any water on us." She said.

"Who needs water when you have Kate Beckett?" He sighed.

"I do. I'm sweaty and grimy from two days work. And so are you."

Castle pulled the cord and hot water splashed down on them. They slowly washed each other off and them dried each other while kissing. Then, tired for several reasons, they went to bed and to sleep.

Kate had decided that she would allow her crews a few days of shore leave before setting off again. That changed when a _lorcha_ sailed into the harbor. A _lorcha_ had a European type hull with sails and rigging of a junk. It was faster than the traditional Chinese junks and were popular among pirates.

"Captain Beckett." Chen called. "I need to talk with you at once. It's important."

Kate who had just been settling down to an afternoon nap, one possibly not involving sleep, with her husband, grumpily got dressed and went to see what Chen wanted. Castle followed her.

"Captain Beckett. I have bad news. There is a powerful British squadron at the Penghu Islands, about eighty miles north and east of here. They are looking for the pirate Kate Beckett and have a description of your family and your ships."

"Are they headed here?" Kate asked,

Chen shook her head. "Word of this battle and your presence here has probably not gotten that far, but news like this will travel fast. The ships will be headed here soon if they aren't already."

"Can we escape?" Castle asked.

Chen nodded and then smiled. "Let me see your charts."

Kate ordered Ryan and Esposito to get both ships to get ready for sea as soon as possible, then went below to the main cabin. Her daughters, the three monks and her husband were soon all there. Chen spread out the charts.

"If you sail north, you will likely run right into the British coming south for you. I would sail south."

"Back to the Philippines?" Castle asked.

Kate shook her head. "The British will already have been there and told the Spanish all about us." She turned back to Chen. "What's to the south of us?"

"Not much. But I would sail around the island of Taiwan and sail to Japan. The Japanese do not like visitors, but in the short term, it's your best bet."

"So we go to Japan."

It took several hours to prepare, but both ships left the harbor and headed south. Chen had arranged for a fast _lorcha_ to accompany them to the south and then north along the east coast of the island of Taiwan. After they passed the north end of the island, they were on their own.

That night, the _lorcha,_ with an experienced pilot at the helm sailed, through the dark, moonless seas with a light at the stern for the _Revenge_ to follow. A similar light on _Revenge's_ stern allowed the _Witch_ to follow along.

Once again, Kate had gathered her family and the three monks in the main cabin. She gestured to several charts spread out on the table.

"We have no real knowledge of where exactly Japan is. We know that it's north and west of us somewhere. But we have no idea of longitude and latitude. The seas are vast and we could easily miss it."

Zhu De looked over the chart.

"We do know that there is a chain of islands called the Ryukyus that can lead us to Japan."

"If we can find the Ryukyus." Alexis said.

"All we can do is sail north and west and hope for the best."


	11. Chapter 11

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

The best was what they found. The next day they found a small fishing boat that had been blown out to sea by a storm. The fishermen were trying to get back to their home on an island called Okinawa and were out of water and getting desperate.

Master Zeng found that they could speak a dialect of Chinese that he was familiar with and spoke to them at length. He then explained what he had learned.

"The King of the Ryukyus is a vassal of Japan, although not specifically a part of Japan proper. However, the islands are also a tributary of China. Except for a small Dutch outpost at the Japanese town of Nagasaki, the Japanese won't allow any contact with outsiders. "

"Why is that?" Castle asked.

Zeng shrugged. "I don't know. The fishermen seem to think that the wishes of the Japanese emperor are not for them to question." Zeng smiled. "And I doubt they much care. However, since the Ryukyus are a tributary of both Japan and China, this allows Japan to trade with China without having to deal with the _gaijin_ , that is foreigners. The term is rather insulting in Japanese."

Although the fisherman had no compass, sextant, charts or other navigational tools, they seemed to be able to tell by the wind direction, the set of the waves, the activities of seabirds and the position of the stars at night, where they were. They were able to guide the two ships to the harbor of Naha where they thankfully parted company with the _Revenge_.

The three monks went ashore and eventually found a pilot who would guide them to the Japanese town of Nagasaki.

"The man is willing if he is well paid. The Japanese apparently don't value the lives of Okinawans very highly, so he insists that he must not go ashore. He knows that there are Dutch and Okinawan ships that are at Nagasaki that can take him home. But he'll have nothing to do with the Japanese."

"Good enough." Kate said.

When they entered the port of Nagasaki, they were impressed.

"The whole place seems to be so neat and tidy." Priscilla said.

"There isn't the stench that one usually gets from cities. "Alexis added.

They had barely anchored when a small boat shot out from the shore and headed straight for the _Revenge_. As soon as he saw the boat, their Okinawan pilot yelled something and ran below.

"What did he say?" Castle asked Zeng.

"He's afraid. He says the boat carries the _hatamoto._ A _hatamoto_ is a _samurai_ who directly serves the _shogun_ , the military dictator of Japan. "Seeing the looks of confusion on the faces of his friends, Zeng explained further. "You might consider a _samurai_ to be the equivalent of a knight in the West. An armed retainer of the Emperor. The _hatamoto_ would be the governor appointed to run Nagasaki by the shogun."

"In other words, a very important man."

"Exactly, Captain Beckett."

But when the boat pulled alongside of the _Revenge_ it was not a Japanese who stepped onto the deck, but a European. He glanced at the flag the _Revenge_ was flying and spoke.

"Englanders?"

Castle spoke. It caused less notice if Castle pretended to be the captain.

"Captain Montgomery, the Honorable East India Company's ship _Bengal_ , with our consort _Surprise_.

"I am Martin van Ryswick, factor in Nagasaki for the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the Dutch East Indies Company."

"What can we do for you, Herr van Ryswick?" Castle asked pleasantly.

"You can leave Nagasaki at once. The Japanese allow us to trade with them at this port. Only the Dutch of all the European nations are allowed to trade here, and only at Nagasaki. They will attack you if you don't leave at once."

"Why don't they allow trade?" Priscilla asked.

Noticing the young woman for the first time, van Ryswick removed his hat and bowed.

"They have seen what has happened to the Philippines when the Spanish arrived, what happened to the Spice Islands when we Dutch arrived and to India when you English arrived. They have no desire to become a colony of some European nation."

"Why do they allow the Dutch to trade?" Alexis asked.

Van Ryswick doffed his hat and bowed once more.

"They find some trade to be useful and the _bakufu_ , the Shogun's government, does like to receive news of what's happening in the rest of the world. The better to anticipate any European attack on Japan."

"Wouldn't it be wiser to be more open and build up a state that was capable of holding off any invasions?" Priscilla asked, somewhat puzzled.

"You'd have to ask the Shogun about that, and I fear you don't have time. You must leave now."

"Do you have any suggestions as to where we should go?" Castle asked.

Van Ryswick shrugged.

"Chosen, across the straits. Perhaps China. Perhaps Siberia. I have no idea. And now I must leave. Good day, Captain Montgomery."

With that, he turned and left. As they watched his boat pull away, a sailor, Jenkins, approached Kate.

"Beggin' yer pardon, Captain. But while the Dutchy was here, a young couple came aboard. They be desiring passage. They has money, too." He held out a large gold coin. "They give me this jist to come to tell you."

Kate took the coin, looked it over, then handed it back to Jenkins. "I suppose you earned it. Where are they?"

"The gundeck, Captain. Towards the stern."

Kate, followed by her family and the three monks went down to the gundeck. There they found two people waiting for them. The man was tall for an Asian and well dressed in a black silk kimono over a pair of very baggy black silk pants. His kimono was heavily embroidered with a dragon motif. The dragon was in gold with red eyes and very large white fangs. Kate noticed he wore two swords in a black sash. One was long and the other very short. She also noted that he kept his right hand very close to the hilt of the larger sword.

The woman was quite petite and very beautiful. She was dressed all in red, but with a gold colored sash around her waist. She turned to Rick and spoke in English.

"Good morning, Captain." She said smiling. "I am Lady Yamashita Kimiko. This is my betrothed, Lord Dewa Shigeto. You may not be aware that in Japan we put the family name first and the given name last."

Master Zeng, Zhu De and Thondup smiled. Master Zeng spoke to the young Japanese lady.

"Captain Beckett is quite familiar with the ways of Asia. And Captain Beckett is the lady. The man you are addressing is her husband, Dr. Richard Castle."

Lady Kimiko blushed. "Please forgive me, Captain Beckett. One rarely sees a woman in any sort of a position of authority in Japan. Is it more common in Europe?"

"Not at all, Lady Kimiko. Not at all. May I ask where you learned to speak English? You speak it quite well."

"An Englishman taught me. He is called James Caldwell and was a navigator on an English ship. His ship was sunk, but the Dutch took him in. He has lived here for many years and now has a Japanese wife and family. I have been learning from him since I was but a small girl. Like many Japanese, I am fascinated by Europe, but also fear it."

"As do we." Said Zhu De, motioning to himself and his two companions.

"May I ask where you wish to go, Lady Kimiko?" Kate asked.

"To the city of Kagoshima. My betrothed's father is the _daimyo_ there. He is the lord of Kagoshima and the lands surrounding it. Under the _shogun_ and the Emperor, of course."

"How far is this city?"

Lady Kimiko looked confused and began talking with Lord Dewa, and with the three monks. Master Zeng turned to Kate when they were done.

"I believe the Japanese _ri_ is about two and a half miles. Kagoshima would then be about ninety miles in a straight line, but we will have to follow the coast as we have no charts. I do not know how far we would have to go. Lady Kimiko says she knows you cannot enter Kagoshima harbor, but there will be fishing boats there that can take them to the city of Kagoshima."

Lady Kimiko handed Zeng a bag. He opened it, then handed it to Kate. "We Japanese use silver coins rather than gold. Gold is rare here. I hope this is enough?"

Kate examined the coins. "This is easily twice what you should pay. I'll return half to you."

"Then you will take us?"

Kate nodded. "Of course. We must leave Nagasaki and apparently all of Japan. A small side trip will allow us to observe some of the country."

Before anyone could say anything else, the sounds of people yelling in both English and Japanese came from above them. Kate rushed off to see what had happened, followed by her family, the three monks and Lady Kimiko and Lord Shigeto.

Once on deck, Kate saw Esposito standing nose to nose with a large, belligerent Japanese man. The man had his hand on one of his two swords and was yelling in Esposito's face with Espo yelling back. Neither, obviously, had any idea what the other was saying. But, behind the Japanese man were a dozen armed and armored men. Kate saw that a dozen or so of her crewmen were headed to the confrontation, all armed with muskets, bayonets and cutlasses. Behind them she could see several petty officers by the arms chests, handing out weapons.

As soon as the Japanese man saw Kate and those following her, he pushed Espo aside and headed for Kate, still yelling.

Lady Kimiko stormed out in front of Kate to confront the man. They stood there screaming at each other while Lord Shigeto glared at the armed Japanese men.

Zhu De whispered in Kate's ear. "The man who came aboard is Lady Kimiko's father. He has demanded she marry another man. In fact, anyone other than Lord Shigeto. Apparently, the Yamashita and Dewa families are deadly enemies and have been so for hundreds of years. Lady Kimiko is telling her father that she will not marry anyone but Lord Shigeto. Most of the rest is just the two of them screaming the same insults back and forth."

Lady Kimiko's father stopped talking and turned to the three monks, making what appeared to be a passionate speech about something. The conversation went back and forth until Master Zeng spoke to Kate.

"Lord Yamashita Hideo demands that you return his daughter and what he calls her rapist over to him. He says that he intends to behead both of them. Kimiko because she is not a dutiful daughter and Shigeto because he's an enemy."

"I will not turn to people over to be executed because they fell in love. Can you negotiate something with him? Something that will satisfy both sides?"

Zhu De spoke briefly to his two companions and then to Lord Hideo. The conversation was short and did not appear to be at all friendly.

"I fear not. Lord Hideo has made a public demand for them to be turned over to him. To back down in any way would cause him to have a great loss of face. He cannot and will not do that."

Kate nodded. "Then tell him that I won't turn the two over to him."

When Zhu De spoke, Lord Hideo's face became a mask of rage. He drew his sword as did his men. Kate's sailors aimed their muskets at the Japanese. Once more Lord Hideo screamed at Kate.

"Lord Hideo says that only cowards use firearms. Real warriors fight with swords."

"Tell him that real warriors will die then. He can leave my ship either dead or alive. It's up to him."


	12. Chapter 12

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

Lord Hideo glared at everyone for a long minute, then he and his men left the _Revenge_.

"You might have mentioned this to me." Kate said to Lady Kimiko.

The Japanese girl shrugged.

"I had assumed that we would be headed for Kagoshima before my father knew we were gone. I was mistaken. I apologize."

It was Kate's turn to shrug. "It's too late to do anything about it now." She turned to Esposito. "Signal the _Witch_ that we're leaving and explain why. I'm not convinced that Lord Hideo won't try something." She turned back to Lady Kimiko. "I have to get my ship ready to sail, but I'd like to invite you to dinner tonight. I'll have one of the ship's boys show you your quarters and I'll have one call on you when it's time for dinner."

Both ships managed to get out of Nagasaki harbor and were headed in the general direction of where Lady Kimiko thought Kagoshima was. The winds, unfortunately were both light and contrary. The ships had to tack for ten miles for every mile they got closer to Kagoshima.

Dinner that night consisted of a fish soup, roasted chicken, a bit of salt pork and a rasher of bacon, plus potatoes and peas. Both coffee and wine were served. Kate had asked the monks if they thought that the Japanese couple would appreciate English food.

Zeng shrugged. "They are Japanese. Even if they loathe the food, they will not lose face by saying so."

When dinner was done, Kate and her family, the three monks and their Japanese guests sat at the table and drank some wine.

"I'm curious as to how you met Lord Shigeto if your families are age old enemies." Kate asked

"We met at the Imperial Capital, Kyoto. I was very frightened when I found there was a member of the Dewa clan there as well. From what my family had told me about them, I assumed he would be ugly and violent and not really civilized. I was very surprised to find that Shigeto is very handsome, peaceable, for a samurai, at least, and very cultured. He writes poetry. Does your husband write poetry?"

Kate smiled and shook her head. "He doesn't I'm afraid. What kind of poetry does your betrothed write?"

"He writes _haiku._ They are very short poems of seventeen syllables and three verses."

"Could you translate one for us?" Castle asked.

"I actually have translated one of Shigeto's _haiku_ into English." She cleared her throat:

"Old pond

"A frog jumps

"The sound of water."

Lady Kimiko blushed. "It isn't a very good translation. But, may I ask how you met your husband?"

"When I was younger, a wealthy and powerful man named Bracken murdered my parents and would have killed me as well, but I escaped. I found refuge with other people Bracken had persecuted. Eventually, we stole some small boats and overpowered a small ship that Bracken owned. We kept attacking his ships and gathered more and more people he had made to suffer. Eventually, I captured this ship that Bracken had sent to capture me. As you can see, I'm an outlaw. A pirate."

"No. I think you are a _ronin_ , a masterless samurai. Many become criminals, bandits and hired killers. Some though are honorable and use their skills to help those in need. I think you are one of the latter. But, how did you meet your husband?"

"We took a ship he and his daughter were on. I assumed he was one of Bracken's hirelings. But I found out he was a doctor. As I needed a ship's surgeon, I told him that I'd let him and his daughter live if he served as my surgeon. He agreed."

Lady Kimiko frowned. "Then which of these ladies is your daughter and which is Dr. Castle's?"

"I'm Alexis Castle." Alexis volunteered.

"And I'm Priscilla Bracken, the daughter of Sir William Bracken. When I found out what a disgusting criminal my father was, I ran away and joined Rick and Kate, who I now consider to be my real mother and father."

"So you married your husband for love, Captain? Is that common among Europeans?"

Kate sadly shook her head. "Not at all. Marriages are often looked upon as being political or economic alliances between families. One of the reasons Priscilla joined us is that her father demanded she marry a foul man named Lord Desmond."

"How sad."

There was a knock on the door and Esposito came in. "Begging your pardon Captain, but there are local ships headed for us. They appear to be some sort of galleys, that is they're rowed. Unless the wind freshens, they'll catch up to us in a few hours."

"That could be my father." Lady Kimiko said. "Since Nagasaki is a port, he does have access to ships for coastwise trade. Most are propelled by oars. The shogun will not permit large sailing ships as the crews might sail elsewhere."

Kate, followed by all of her dinner guests, headed for the quarterdeck. Kate took her telescope and scanned the horizon.

"I can't make out who they are, but perhaps if we sail out of sight of land, they'll stop chasing us."

The _Revenge_ and the _Witch_ changed course but the Japanese ships changed their courses as well. Kate was convinced that they were being followed by Lord Hideo, as was Lady Kimiko.

"I apologize for putting you in this position, Captain Beckett. My father certainly does wish to attack your ship. You could put the two of us in a small boat and leave us. That would be an acceptable manner for us to apologize to you for our error."

Kate shook her head. "The wind is picking up. With a good following wind, we'll be able to lose them in the dark. Their oarsmen must be very tired by now. Once we lose them, we can head for Kagoshima and drop you off."

It was a good plan, but sometimes good plans don't work. When they approached Kagoshima they discovered that Lord Hideo had spread his ships out in a long line covering the approaches to Kagoshima from horizon to horizon. Once one ship caught sight of Kate's ships they would all converge on them.

Lord Shigeto suddenly ran to the landward side of the ship and began to yell at Lady Kimiko. The Japanese woman ran to Kate.

"Lord Shigeto has a plan. You must head for the group of ships just coming out of Kagoshima harbor. They are Lord Shigeto's father's ships. They will protect us."

Alas, one more good plan failed to work. When they approached the other fleet, a volley of musket fire and arrows greeted them. Lord Shigeto stood on the ratlines where all could see who he was. He held a loud conversation with the people on his father's ships, then jumped down. He ran to Lady Kimiko and spoke rapidly to her in Japanese.

"I'm so very sorry, Captain Beckett. Lord Shigeto's family is as angry as mine about our betrothal. They want both of us dead as well. I fear we have no options left."

"We have an option." Kate turned to Esposito. "We'll turn about Mr. Esposito and head straight for the Yamashita clan fleet. There's a good stiff breeze behind us now so that should carry us through them and bring the Dewa clan fleet right after us. If they hate each other as much as Lady Kimiko says, we can escape while they fight each other. Have the drummers beat to quarters, Mr. Esposito and advise the _Witch_ of our intentions. We'll fire into the Yamashita fleet only if they're about to board us. I want them to concentrate on fighting each other, not us."

This time the plan worked. Each fleet was confronted with two targets: Two European ships carrying two people they both wanted to kill and; A fleet of their most hated enemies sailing straight for them. Both leaders dithered, unable to decide who to fight until the decision was made for them. Kate's ships sailed through the mass of Yamashita ships with only a few musket shots fired at them. Then to two Japanese fleets collided and a true battle began.

Kate stood on the quarterdeck watching the two fleets disappear astern. "That solves one problem, but what do we do with you, Lady Kimiko?"

"I do have an uncle on the Island of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. He and my father have never gotten along. In fact, my father had him banished to Hokkaido. It's a cold and grim place, but it's all we have left. We should sail north. And I believe I should pay you the rest of the silver I offered. The trip is much longer than you agreed on."

Kate accepted the money. She liked Lady Kimiko and her betrothed, but she had her own people to look after.

Days later they stood off the port of Hakodate. Lord Yamashita Asao was not particularly pleased to see his niece and her paramour, but he was more than happy to upset his brother's wishes concerning them. He offered them the hospitality of his family,

Hokkaido was far from the Shogun in Edo and apparently his edicts carried somewhat less force this far north. Kate and her family met briefly with Lord Asao and were told that he traded with the Russians in Siberia. He wouldn't allow any Russians to set up permanent trading posts for fear that it would lead to Russia trying to make a colony of Hokkaido and perhaps all of Japan. He did have nautical charts that he had gotten from the Russians showing the route to Russian America.

"I would be best if you left as soon as possible." The elderly lord said to Rick, once again posing as Captain Montgomery of the Honorable East India Company. "My brother will be very angry and will surely complain to the Shogun about my actions taking in my niece and her lover. But if you leave quickly, I can tell the Shogun's representative that I behaved properly and chased you off."

Castle agreed with him and they quickly set sail again, but not before wishing Lady Kimiko and Lord Shigeto good luck.

As they sailed north and west, Kate was glad they had bought fur clothing from Lord Asao. It wasn't just that it was cold, but it seemed to be always night. At least the seas had been unusually calm, although the fog was as bad as any Kate had ever seen.

"Deck ahoy." Cried the lookout from high in the crow's nest. "Ship fine on the starboard bow. She be a big 'un. A ship o' the line I be thinkin' or…." The voice stopped. "Jesus, Mary and all the Saints! She be a ghost ship."

Kate and many of the crew ran to the starboard side of the ship. There, slowly emerging from the fog was a ghostly white ship. Kate didn't believe in ghosts but felt her stomach clench and get cold.

"Oh, bosh." Said a voice beside her.

"What?" She asked Alexis.

"Bosh. That's not a ship, although it vaguely resembles one. It's an iceberg. Berg is the German word for mountain, so it's just a floating mountain of ice. Shoot one of the cannons at it if you don't believe me. If it were some ghostly apparition, the cannon ball would pass right through it. But you'll see the ball hit."

"Mr. Esposito, have Jenkins' gun crew man the number four gun. Have them take a shot at that….mountain."

The gun crew moved slowly to their stations and were remarkably slow in loading and aiming their gun. Finally, they had no other option but to fire at what they were very much afraid was a ghost ship. Who knew what a ship full of ghosts might do if disturbed?

The gun crew fired at last and after a second or so a shower of ice was seen from high on the iceberg. The whole crew cheered.


	13. Chapter 13

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

"Mother, we should keep our distance from those icebergs. Nine tenths of their mass is under water. Who knows how close we are to a part that's beneath the ocean. We need to be careful."

Kate order the helmsman to steer a few points to the port, then turned back to Alexis who had now been joined by Priscilla. "How did you know about icebergs?"

"While I was with father when he was at Trinity College, Dublin, there was a Danish whaling captain staying at our inn. I was very curious about his travels and asked him many questions. He told me many amusing stories, most of which I have found to be true."

"How old were you?"

Alexis thought for a moment. "A month or two past five years old."

Kate shook her head and resumed her place on the quarterdeck.

Several days later the _Revenge_ and her consort were sailing past an ice floe when part of the floe detached itself and began moving away.

"Is the bloody ice alive?" Muttered one sailor.

Kate trained her telescope on the moving object. "It appears to be some sort of bear."

"Really?" Said her husband, rushing to her side. "Perhaps an albino bear? One bereft of any coloration? I have heard of such animals and of even human beings with that condition. Perhaps, in the interest of science, we could…."

"Father," Priscilla said, interrupting him. "I believe that is the species _Ursus Maritimus_ , commonly called the polar bear. The zoo at the Palace of Versailles had several."

"My sister is correct, of course." Alexis added.

"Why haven't I learned these things?" Castle grumped.

"Because you're usually too busy with Mother." Priscilla said before both girls rushed off giggling.

"I'd rather be with you than with one of those bears."

"Glad to hear it." Kate said, hiding a smile.

Eventually, they sighted land. Snow covered land, but land never the less. And after that, they began to see green trees as the land began tending towards the south.

One day they came across a party of some twenty dugout canoes, each apparently carved from a single large tree. They were propelled by both oars and sails and had raised prows and sterns. They were all oddly painted. As soon as they saw the two ships, they sped towards shore as fast as they could.

"They've learned to fear European ships." Kate said to her husband and to Esposito who was standing nearby. "We need to be careful."

"We always need to be careful, Captain." Esposito replied. "That's what being a pirate is all about."

Kate changed the subject. She didn't need to be reminded what a pirate's life was like. "We're running short of water. Have the lookouts keep a special watch for signs of rivers."

Two days later they saw what was either a deep inlet, or possibly the mouth of a river. Kate had a bucket cast down and filled with water. Castle took a drink from it.

"It's only a bit brackish, so that's a river. We should be able to get good, fresh water here."

Kate decided to sail a little way up the river until they couldn't be seen by any passing ship, even though they hadn't seen any European ships since leaving Japan. She also had the water casks brought up from below so they could be cleaned out and the foul water remaining in them drained.

"Captain," Esposito said, "I see deer ashore. We still have those rifles. I could take a small party ashore and do some hunting. Fresh venison would be a change from salt beef and salt pork."

Kate shook her head. "Remember the natives we saw? They feared us. We'll take a large, well armed party ashore. We'll have Captain Ryan bring the _Witch_ close to shore to cover us."

And so Kate led a party of some fifty well armed seamen and Irish soldiers ashore. Esposito, who had previously hunted wild pigs and cattle on Tortuga, took several parties of hunters into the forest. They were all quite successful and by mid afternoon had plenty of fresh meat ready to return to their ships.

They saw a flash of movement in the trees and then a woman came running towards them. She came to a stop in front of them and spoke in a language they didn't understand.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Kate asked. She looked over the girl, for she was probably younger than Alexis or Priscila. She was blonde, quite pretty and wore only a torn dress. The top had been torn away showing too much of the tops of her breasts for Kate's taste and her dress ended well above her knees.

"Ah! You are English?" She made a curtsy to Kate. "We need to leave. If I was able to hear your gunfire, you can bet that the natives heard them as well. Tout de suite, s'il vous plais? Quickly?"

As if on cue, a large band of natives came out of the woods. They apparently were familiar with firearms as they retreated back into the trees at once.

"They will move through the trees and shoot at you with bows and arrows. "Said the blonde. "We should go now. Take me with you, please?"

"Mr. Esposito, begin loading the meat in the longboats and have your musketeers take cover and be ready for anything. As soon as the meat is loaded, we'll take our new friend back to the _Revenge_."

The longboats were just pulling away from the shore when a volley of arrows shot out of the woods but landed in the water a dozen yards from the boats. By the time they were boarding the Revenge, over a hundred natives lined the shore, screaming at them. Then, all at once, they left.

Kate turned to their new guest. Her family, the monks and many sailors had gathered around. Alexis quickly got a pair of shawls to cover the girl with.

"I'm Captain Kate Beckett of the _Revenge_. The other ship, the _Witch of Endor_ is part of my fleet. This is my husband, Dr. Richard Castle, our daughters, Alexis and Priscilla and our guests, the Buddhist monks Lahmo Thondup, Master Zeng and Zhu De. Might I ask who you are, and why the locals were chasing you?"

The blonde curtsied again. " _Enchante_ , Captain Beckett. I am Tatiana Romanov. "

"Romanov? You mean the Russian Imperial Family?" Castle asked.

"I have the honor to by the daughter of the Grand Duke Cyril, the younger brother of the Czar."

Kate was nonplussed by having a member of the Russian Imperial Family aboard her ship. Then the girl laughed. "However, my mother was a Polish maid at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. My mother was very beautiful and caught the grand duke's eye. Maids do not turn down grand dukes in Russia, so he made her one of his mistresses. I should call myself Tatiana Pontiakowski, but I enjoy flaunting my "noble" connections. As to why I was being chased, it is because I am Russian. Russian men are pigs. They force the local Indians to work for them, they kill any who resist, and, like my mother, they take any woman who appeals to them. Any chance the Indians get to kill Russians, they take. The idiot trader Vlasov set up camp on this river and then he and all the men got drunk. The natives saw this and attacked. I ran away the first chance I got, but they chased me. The top of my dress was torn off and I tore the bottom part off so that I could run faster. And then I heard shooting and ran to you. And here I am."

"Mother, "Said Alexis, "we should dress Tatiana properly and get her some food and drink. She looks awfully thin."

"Yes. Please? Especially food."

They took Tatiana to the main cabin and brought her a plate of bread, cheese, and meat. A glass of watered wine was poured for her. She ate ravenously. When she was done with one plate, she asked for another and downed that as well.

" _Bien_. Very good. Thank you for rescuing me and feeding me."

"You've told us about your mother, but nothing about yourself. How did you learn to speak such excellent English?" Kate asked.

Tatiana sighed.

"I grew up in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. My so-called noble lineage was well known, but as far as the Russians were concerned, I was nothing but the daughter of a Polish whore. When I was fourteen, men began to notice me. I managed to run away from most of them, but three young noblemen decided it would be great fun to rape the illegitimate daughter of Grand Duke Cyril. I fought, but they were too many and too strong for me. Oddly, Cyril was angry when he found out about my rape. Not because be had any feelings for me, but because the noblemen were bragging about raping his daughter. He felt they were trying to insult him personally."

Tatiana took another swig of wine and asked for another glass. Then she continued.

"I was sent to the household of Sir Andrew Grant, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Russian Empire. Sir Andrew was a widower with two young girls. They were cared for by a governess, Flora MacDonald, who I worked for. She had been the governess for Lady Grant when she was a child and loved the two little girls like they were her own. She loved me as well." Tatiana began to cry but went on. "When she found out that I could not read, write or do math, she began teaching me along with the girls. I had to learn English, of course, and discovered I have a talent for languages. I was afraid that Sir Andrew would be angry, but when he found out he said that half of the evil in the world came from not educating women. I do hope you allow your daughters an education, Captain Beckett."

Kate smiled. "Alexis has been to university and Priscilla was taught at home by a tutor, as was I before I had to flee. All three of us have made every effort to learn as much as we can about the world and all of its doings."

"You had to flee? From what, or who?"

Kate explained her history to Tatiana and confessed to being a pirate and was now fleeing from Sir William Bracken and the massive reward he'd posted.

Tatiana just nodded. "I wish I had been able to become a pirate."

"How did you end up here in Russian America?" Priscilla asked.

"I became a valued member of Sir Andrew's household. I found that he was a true English gentleman and still very much in love with his wife. It took me over two years to seduce him." Tatiana laughed. "I knew that he could never marry an illegitimate Polish maid, but we were in love. Alas, he was recalled to England and although he tried to take me with him, the Czar's court wouldn't allow such a thing. I was a serf and serfs are like slaves, they belong to their masters. Luckily, I attracted the attention of a Captain Vlasov of the Cossacks. He was leading an expedition to Russian America and decided to take me with him and my master allowed it. By then, I knew better than to fight him when he wanted sex, and I even managed to act like I enjoyed it. I hoped that I would find some way to escape from Russia and all of its ills. And now Vlasov is dead and I'm alive and safe."

"Mother." Alexis said. "I think that Tatiana should join Priscilla and me in learning from our Buddhist friends."

"And we can learn from Miss Tatiana. We know nothing of Russia, but the country is expanding into Siberia and south into the Central Asian Muslim lands. One day they may adjoin the Chinese Empire and the British Empire in India." Added Thondup.


	14. Chapter 14

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

And so, the two ships sailed south along a coast that grew greener as the weather grew warmer. All in all, it was as peaceful as anything Kate had seen in a very long time. They saw locals on shore who stood and watched the ships as they sailed by, but neither ran away or acted friendly. They passed a few small fishing craft that more or less ignored them.

"Rick?" Kate asked one evening as they stood on deck, looking at the white line of breakers pounding the shoreline. "What is this place?"

Castle thought for a moment. "I believe it's the northern part of New Spain. The Spaniards claim all of the west coast of North America, even the parts actually controlled by the Russians. I don't know that they have any settlements here, but they might."

"I wish we could just stay here. I want to settle down and live a normal life so badly."

"As do I, Kate. But the Spanish Manila galleons bring treasure across the Pacific to New Spain, and treasure attracts pirates, and during wartime naval squadrons will sail here. Sooner or later, someone would stumble upon us."

Kate nodded sadly. "I know. I know. It's just that this is no life for our daughters."

Rick chuckled. "And we seem to have another daughter. Tatiana, and Alexis and Priscilla are, if you'll excuse the expression, as thick as thieves."

"I do want to give you a son, Rick. Many sons and daughters. But, if this life is not right for young ladies, it'd be even worse for children. I wish I could change things, but I can't."

"Nor do you need to, Mother." Priscilla said, having approached unheard, accompanied by her sisters. "Our life with you and father is better than we'd have anyplace else. We are happy with you and Father. Please don't feel that you have somehow failed us."

The three young women put their arms around their parents and each other and stood for a long time on deck, just hugging each other and being content with their lot.

They sailed on south with the _Witch of Endor_ sailing several nautical miles ahead of the _Revenge_.

"Signal from the _Witch_ , captain." Esposito said.

Both of them read the signal flags flying from the _Witch_.

"It appears there is a Spanish settlement on this coast. Ryan says he can see a church and other Spanish type buildings. We could use more fresh food and more fresh water."

Esposito nodded. "We can always use fresh water and fresh food."

"Signal Ryan to heave to. When we catch up, we'll take a party ashore and see what there is to see." Seeing her husband heading towards her, she added, "I think that the Spanish would be more willing to talk to the good Captain Montgomery of the Honorable East India Company than a female captain."

"As you wish, Captain." Castle said with a bow as he headed below to put on clothing more suitable to his role as Captain Montgomery.

Before the first longboat had been loaded and lowered into the water, they heard the bells of the church begin to ring and saw the people run towards the church. By the time they reached the village, it was completely deserted.

"They left in a hurry." Kate said. "There's food still cooking on an open fire. Someone was grinding corn and just left it. Over there, a cow was being milked. They didn't even take the milk pail with them. They're afraid of us."

"They'll be all the happier to see us then when they find out we're not going to harm them." Castle added.

They walked to the church, the doors of which were firmly closed. Kate motioned for Ryan and his red-coated Irish troops to lead. "I hope that when they see uniformed, regular troops, they'll know were not pirates." Then she grinned. "Although we really are."

As they approached the church, the door opened quickly and just as quickly closed. Standing before them was an elderly priest who spoke in rapid fire and very emotional Spanish. Esposito, who spoke Spanish as his native tongue, translated for Rick and Kate.

"This is Father Roberto who is in charge of the mission Santa Barbara. He begs us to take only food and not take the men to be our slaves or the women to use in an un-Christian way."

"Please tell him that I am an officer of the English Honorable East India Company and that we have no intention of harming anyone. However, we do need food and water, but we will pay good silver for what we need." Castle took out a large leather bag and shook out a few silver coins into his palm.

For the first time, the priest lost the look of terror on his face and spoke more calmly.

Again, Esposito translated. "He was afraid we were from a local pirate called El Sinverguenza, the shameless one. He took a ship taking silver from the mines of Peru to Acapulco where it would meet the Manila galleon and transport all of the treasure across New Spain and on to Spain. This El Sinverguenza took the ship, of some forty or more guns in Acapulco harbor some seven months ago. The whole Spanish crew was apparently drunk. After that, he came north, stole all of their food and took young men and women as captives."

Castle frowned. "Ask him if he has sufficient food for his people. We don't wish for them to starve."

Once again Esposito and Father Roberto talked. Finally, Esposito spoke to Castle.

"He says the other missions sent them food and the harvest that has just been brought in has been bountiful. God has been good to them. He'll be happy to sell us food. He suggests we have a _fiesta,_ a party or celebration. A feast, if you will."

Kate realized that they had paid too much for the food, wine and water they bought, but Father Roberto seemed happy and would apparently be able to buy much needed supplies for his mission. The mission Indians were also quite happy, for who doesn't love a good party and feast. A cow was cooked on a spit over an open fire and wine was brought out in addition to whatever foodstuffs the mission had.

Kate was introduced to the tortilla, a flat, thin piece of bread onto which you piled meat, rice beans and whatever else you had, rolled it up and ate it. Kate enjoyed the food, even if some of it fell out of the bottom and onto the dress she wore as the wife of Captain Montgomery.

When the meal was done, the Indians brought out musical instruments and played and sang songs while others danced. Kate danced with her husband. She put both arms around his neck and held onto him very tightly while swaying to the soft music. She could have stayed there like that forever, but she saw Tatiana at the edge of the crowd, looking sullen and unhappy. When the music stopped, she disengaged from Castle and walked to Tatiana.

"Is something wrong, Tatiana? You don't seem to be having any fun. Don't you want to dance, or at least have some wine?"

The Russian girl just shook her head. "No."

"Will you tell me what's wrong?"

Tatiana sighed. "I don't want anything to do with the Catholic Church anymore. As a Pole, I was raised as a Catholic. When I was raped, I went to a priest. He said that if I had been pure, God would have given me the strength to fight those men off. He said that since I wasn't strong, that meant I was impure. He called me a whore and refused to give me absolution for my sins until I told the truth and confessed to being a whore. I haven't been to Mass since. Every time I see a priest, I remember that and get angry and sad."

"Tatiana, what that one priest did was wrong, but Father Roberto is not…"

Tatiana turned away.

"I'm going to take a walk by the beach." She said, striding away.

Kate followed her.

"Tatiana, at least take my dagger. Wandering around alone could be dangerous." Kate pulled a long dagger from the folds of her dress and handed it to the young blonde.

Tatiana walked off into the night.

Kate watched her go, and then returned to the fiesta. She danced with her husband and even managed to sneak him off into the darkness for a brief time for some more fun. Finally, Kate gathered up her crew and made arrangements for Father Roberto to deliver the food, wine and water to the beach starting the next morning.

As they headed for the beach, she saw Tatiana hurrying towards them.

"Captain Beckett, you must come quickly with me." She grabbed Kate's hand and began pulling her down the beach.

"Tatiana! What is it?"

"You must see. Come quickly."

Tatiana led Kate and her whole party to a small cave opening.

"Captain, I walked down the beach and stopped here to rest. As I sat, I smelled something. Something I'd smelled before. The smell of rotting flesh. Human flesh. I thought someone might be buried here and began to dig, using the dagger you gave me. Then I found the cave entrance. I went in and found dead bodies and more. You must look."

Kate, Tatiana, Castle, Ryan and Esposito all crawled through the narrow opening. Inside, they found they could stand up easily. Lighting torches they found the bodies of a dozen Indians. Their throats had been slit. But beyond them were stacks of large wooden cases and barrels.

"Look inside this one. I opened it." Tatiana pointed to one case.

Kate lifted the lid and saw the gleam of silver. A quick check of the rest of the cases and barrels found that the cases were full of silver ingots and the barrels were full of silver coins. Towards the back there were smaller cases filled with gold and jewels.

"This must be the loot from the ship carrying Peruvian silver that El Sinverguenza took. He had the slaves he took carry it here, then killed them and covered up the cave."

"But why?" Ryan asked. "Pirates don't bury loot. They divide it up at once. I've never heard of a pirate ship's articles that didn't say that loot was divided up at once."

"Silver is heavy and would slow a ship down a bit." Castle mused.

"All the more reason to go someplace where you could spend it." Esposito growled.

"We haven't divided up any loot." Castle replied.

"We've nowhere to spend it since we left India."

Kate interrupted the argument.

"Whatever the reason, the loot is here. We'll take it. As far as why it's here, I can think of two reasons. One, El Sinverguenza wants to take the Manila galleon and wants his ship in tip top shape to take her on. No load of silver to slow her down."

Ryan laughed. "Then he's a fool. The Manila galleon has already been taken on the other side of the Pacific."

"Which El Sinverguenza doesn't know." Castle replied. "What's the second reason, Kate?"

"If he really is shameless, he might be planning to maroon his crew somewhere and, with few trusted companions, go back, grab this treasure and live like kings for the rest of their lives."

"Whatever the reason, we should start loading the treasure now. Father Roberto said there are only a few weak Spanish _Guarda Costa_ ships that come this far north, but you never can tell."

Kate agreed and set her crew to work transferring their newfound treasure back to their two ships. But, come morning, they had problems.


	15. Chapter 15

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

"Captain," Ryan said, walking up the beach to where Kate was supervising the loading of the supplies being bought from the mission. "We have a problem. An Indian saw us moving the treasure and ran off. He'll tell Father Roberto for sure."

Looking over Ryan's shoulder, she saw the old priest hurrying towards them, a grim look on his face.

Father Robert stopped and addressed Castle with Esposito acting as translator.

"He knows about the cave and he's figured out that El Sinverguenza left the silver there. He says the silver belongs to the King of Spain and that we have no right to take it. He demands that we leave it here."

Castle smiled. "It seems to me that the King of Spain lost his silver to a pirate and that I'm taking the silver from a pirate. The King of Spain isn't here right now to dispute ownership of the treasure, but tell Father Roberto that the King can take the matter up with the Honorable East India Company. East India House is located on Leadenhall Street in London. I'm sure anyone can direct the King to there."

When Esposito translated that, Father Roberto was very angry and began a long tirade in Spanish. When he was done, Esposito translated."

"Basically, he doesn't like us and we're pirates and heretics. And he knows a lot of words I wouldn't expect a priest to know."

"We'll leave a few barrels of coins behind on the beach. The good father can give them to the King or keep them at his preference."

The last longboat filled with food pulled away from the beach. The silver was safely aboard Kate's two ships and in spite of his unhappiness, Father Roberto had provided the food he had promised. They last saw of him, he standing on the beach with two barrels of Spanish silver coins beside him.

"Do you suppose he'll keep the coins, Mother?" Tatiana said, calling Kate her mother for the first time.

"I don't know, but I hope he does. His little flock needs so much and have so little. But, we'll probably never know."

Unknown to Kate, El Sinverguenza had sailed north in search of this year's Manila galleon, not being aware that it would never arrive. He and Kate had passed each other at night with the ships just over the horizon from each other. Finally, El Sinverguenza sailed back south. He raided the mission Santa Barbara again for supplies and slaves. There he found out that English heretics had stolen his silver. Enraged, he had Father Roberto whipped and took all the young men and women as slaves. Then he headed south, looking for the two English ships.

"What's the name of this village again?" Kate asked the _alcalde_ , or mayor, of the tiny seacoast village they'd stopped at. They needed very little except for information about any Spanish naval vessels in the vicinity. The _alcalde_ was sitting in the main cabin of the _Revenge_ , enjoying his third glass of wine.

"This is _El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula_. That is, the Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels of Porciuncula. Porciuncula is a small Church in Assisi, Italy, where Saint Francis is from." The alcalde replied in English. He had, in his younger years, served aboard a Basque whaling ship that had run aground off Labrador. They had been saved by an English whaler and Don Diego de Alcazar had served on it for several years, learning English in the process.

"And a very lovely little village it is." Castle said, still pretending to be Captain Montgomery of the Honorable East India Company, with Kate introduced as his wife. "But, Don Diego, while we are armed warships of the company, we are on a mission of exploration. We do not wish for Spain to think that we are at all hostile. Are there any Spanish warships about?"

Don Diego shook his head sadly.

" _Senor Capitano_ Montgomery, I regret there are none. The _Guarda Costa_ , who collect taxes and keep smuggling at bay have not been here for over three years. And the _Marina Real_? Our navy? They haven't come north of Acapulco in ten years, perhaps more. We are at the mercy of seagoing thieves and brigands such as this El Sinverguenza. Although he is not the first of his kind to make our poor lives miserable. Should you English wish to trade with us, there would be no one to stop you. I know. I know." He said, raising his eyes to heaven. "It is a crime and a sin to smuggle and avoid paying taxes, but is it not also a sin to deprive the poor people of our small _pueblo_ of the goods that they need? And why? Because incompetent bureaucrats in Mexico City and lazy naval officers won't do their jobs without the _mordida_ , the little bite, the bribe. I say it would be a sin for the English to ignore us."

Castle nodded seriously. "I will report your wise words back to my superiors in London. But, you must understand, we English are far from the province of Alta California but we shall see."

Don Diego smiled. "Perhaps we could celebrate our little agreement with another glass of your fine wine."

"An excellent idea, Don Diego. And I insist that you take several bottles home with you."

Don Diego was almost in tears. "You English are so generous. I wish I had never returned to Spain and come to this place."

Further conversation was stopped by an outburst of yelling in Spanish from the main deck. They could clearly hear Esposito's voice.

In seconds, Esposito came into the main cabin, bringing a tired looking man with him.

"Ramon! What is it?" Don Diego demanded. Then remembering who he was speaking to, changed to Spanish. Meanwhile Esposito told them what he had learned.

"This man says that El Sinverguenza has raided the mission at Santa Barbara. The priest told him about us and he's headed this way."

Don Diego confirmed this. "Ramon has ridden all the way from Santa Barbara to warn us. He says the priest told El Sinverguenza that two English heretic pirate ships stole the silver that El Sinverguenza had hidden in a cave. That is, of course, absurd. You are honest merchants, not pirates. And the story of buried treasure? Pure fantasy. Having been a sailor myself, I know that when there's money to be had, sailors want to run off and drink, gamble and whore to their…" Don Diego suddenly stopped and looked at Kate with a look of horror on his face. "A thousand pardons, _Senora_ Montgomery. I should never have used such a word in the presence of an English lady such as yourself. I beg your pardon, my lady."

Kate, having heard, and used, much worse language herself, smiled at Don Diego. "Your apology is accepted, Don Diego, however I fear my husband must now get ready to fight. This pirate obviously thinks we are what we are not. I fear we must ask you to go ashore now."

"With the promised wine?" Don Diego said, hopefully.

"Of course."

Once Don Diego was safely on a boat headed for shore, Kate called Ryan to join her, Castle and Esposito. She was joined by her daughters, who now seemed to number three, and her three Buddhist guests.

"From what we've learned the ship that El Sinverguenza hijacked, the _Corpus Christi_ , is a bigger ship than either of ours and mounts at least 44 guns. The weight of metal in her broadside is greater than both of our ships combined. As far as we can tell, his crew outnumbers our combined crews. But the ship must be slower than our ships. We need to use our speed and maneuverability to stay away from him and pound him from afar. And, he can only concentrate on one of our ships at a time. When he goes after one, the other can attack him."

Kate and her crews spent the rest of the day preparing for battle. Once the sun was down, Kate made sure her crews had a good meal with a tot of rum for all hands, less Alexis, Priscilla and Tatiana. She set double watches and, with the energetic help of her husband, managed to get a good night's sleep.

It was mid-morning before they saw the _Corpus Christi._

"She's as we thought." Kate said, after examining the ship through her telescope. "She's a large ship and well-armed enough to defeat anything that might try conclusions with her in the vast wastes of the Pacific Ocean. But she's also meant to carry cargo of silver and other valuables from the mines of Peru to Acapulco. She'll have a greater displacement than any pure warship with a similar battery. And we have the weather gauge, with a nice brisk breeze at our backs."

"Excuse me, my love." Rick said softly. "But what is this weather gauge again?"

"We're upwind of the _Corpus Christi_. We can sail towards her as we wish and sail away as we wish. If she wants to attack us, she'll have to tack against the wind. This is not only more time consuming, but tacking will cause the ship to heel. That is, it'll be pushed over to one side by the pressure of the wind on the sails. The hull to the windward side will be pushed up as the ship heels and her guns may not be able to engage us. The other side of the ship will be pushed down and the guns on that side will be pointing towards the sea. If the ship heels too far over, the water may flood through those gun ports, or they'll have to close the gun ports, making the guns useless."

"Ah. I see."

As Kate had predicted, the _Corpus Christi_ headed for the _Revenge_ , ignoring the _Witch_. Steering as close to the wind as he could, El Sinverguenza tacked his ship slowly towards the _Revenge_. As he approached, Kate saw two flags raised on the enemy ship. One was the traditional black flag and skull and crossbones that most pirates flew. The other was a blood red flag.

"The red flag." Kate muttered. "They'll be giving no quarter."

"Then neither will we." Espo said. "Not that we expected the bastard to take prisoners."

As the _Corpus Christi_ slowly beat upwind, Captain Ryan saw a perfect opportunity to sail by the enemy ship's stern and rake them with a full broadside. The _Witch,_ with the wind at her back, headed for the _Corpus Christi_.

The pirate was either so sure that his ship could withstand a broadside from the _Witch_ or he was so determined to attack the _Revenge_ and get his silver back that he totally ignored the warship heading for him.

Ryan sailed his ship not thirty yards past the stern of the _Corpus Christi_.

"Gunners!" Cried Ryan. "Fire as your guns bear." As each gun came to bear on the pirate ship, they fired, one round after another. From Ryan's viewpoint he could see only some minor damage to the stern cabin. However, the iron balls had swept down the entire length of the _Corpus Christi_ , killing and wounding men, damaging cannons and slightly damaging the main mast.

Ryan decided he'd not take more chances and turned away from his victim and tacked back towards the _Revenge._ Having a faster and more weatherly ship, he soon outran his opponent.

"The first broadside is ours." Kate noted with satisfaction.

"He's about to tack again." Esposito said. "His crew is doing a bloody bad job of it. They must be nothing but a mob of landlubbers. Useless at sea."

"My God! Look" Someone cried out. "He's in irons."


	16. Chapter 16

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

Kate saw he was indeed in irons. El Sinverguenza's crew had been unable to tack their ship properly resulting in the ship being too slow to change from tacking to the east, to turning and tacking to the west. Accordingly, the wind was blowing straight from the ship's bows and not filling her sails. The ship had stopped.

"We should take advantage of this, Mr. Esposito. I wish to pass in front of the _Corpus Christi_ and give him a broadside or perhaps two."

The nimble _Revenge_ turned on her heel and sped towards her motionless enemy. On the enemy quarterdeck, Kate could see a large, floridly dressed man she presumed was El Sinverguenza shouting orders. She could also see that the tide was turning and moving the other ship ever so slowly. If that kept up, the ship would turn enough to once again fill her sails and move forward.

"She's starting to move…" A sailor cried.

"No!" Kate yelled. "The wind has shifted just a bit. She's still in irons. Gunners! Make ready. Fire as your guns bear."

The gunners, who'd been anxiously awaiting the battle since the night before, huddled around their cannons. Each gun captain kept a close watch on where the _Corpus Christi_ was in relation to them. Finally, the gun captain of the forwardmost gun saw the enemy through the gun port.

"Fire." He screamed, the last part of the word was drowned out by the roar of his cannon. As soon as one gun fired the gun crew reloaded as rapidly as possible. Kate had the helmsman turn the ship's wheel over to turn the _Revenge_ almost broadside to the _Corpus Christi_. As their own broadside roared out, the enemy ship fired its own broadside. It was a ragged affair and did no more than cut up some of the _Revenge's_ rigging. The _Revenge_ had sailed out of range before _Corpus Christi_ could fire again.

"I don't think their gun crews are that good." Castle said. "I'm sure our gunners could have reloaded fast enough to get a second broadside into us. And do more than just cut up our rigging."

Kate laughed and kissed her husband. "Castle, I'll make a pirate out of you yet."

He kissed her back. "According to the Royal Navy, I'm already a pirate."

"Ha! What do they know?"

And so, the battle went on until mid-afternoon. Captain Kate's ships were faster and more nimble than the _Corpus Christi_ , and had better trained gun crews. However, the _Corpus Christi_ was a sturdy ship with a thick wooden hull that seemed impervious to their opponents' cannonballs. However, Kate felt they were wearing the pirate ship down. She could see damage not only to the rigging but to the masts and yards as well. It also looked to her as if her enemy's crew was being worn down by death, wounds and sheer exhaustion.

"If we can damage her enough to keep her immobile, we can attack at our pleasure and destroy the _Corpus Christi_. Already her gunfire has slackened and their gun crews weren't that good to begin with."

Rick put his arm around her. "Just be careful to not get to close. Wear her down with long range fire. I couldn't stand to lose you. You're everything to me, Kate."

"And you to me."

However, in midafternoon, disaster struck. The wind dropped to almost nothing, and all three vessels lost steerage way. The _Witch of Endor_ was nearly a half a nautical mile from either the _Revenge_ or the _Corpus Christi_. The _Revenge_ found itself facing the _Corpus Christi_ bow to bow.

For several minutes the two ships faced each other until Kate ordered the bow chasers to open fire. El Sinverguenza order his bow chasers to fire as well, but Kate's guns and gunners were far superior. They managed to drive the _Corpus Christi's_ gunner away from their weapons.

Then, the _Corpus Christi_ began to move slowly towards the _Revenge_.

"What the hell is happening?" Castle asked.

"There's just a puff of wind, but it's pushing that bastard right at us." Kate said.

"Why the hell isn't the same wind pushing us backwards?"

" _Corpus Christi's_ sails are blocking the wind. We might be getting a bit of wind, but not enough to move us."

The enemy ship inched closer to the Revenge. As it did, El Sinverguenza ordered his men to mass in the bow and prepare to board the Revenge. Kate called on all of her people to grab their muskets, cutlasses and boarding pikes to repel them.

Kate saw El Sinverguenza standing on the fo'c'sle shouting orders at his men.

"Esposito. Grab your rifle and drop El Sinverguenza." She shouted.

Esposito was armed with the rifle, which he brought to his shoulder, aimed and fired. The man standing next to the pirate captain flew backwards, dead. And before Esposito could reload, the _Corpus Christi_ slammed into the _Revenge_ and masses of pirates boarded.

"Mother, I will not be taken alive." Alexis said calmly.

"Nor I." Priscilla said.

"Me either." Said Tatiana.

"Let's worry more about how _they_ will die!" Kate shouted and fired her two pistols into the mass of men attacking her ship. Dropping her empty pistols, she drew her rapier and charged, followed by her husband and her daughters.

Although distracted by having to fight, Kate soon realized that her cause was hopeless. There were simply too many pirates. She said a brief prayer that neither she nor her family would be taken alive.

As soon as the prayer passed her lips, there was a gentle bump and the _Corpus Christi_ slowly came to a stop. The _Revenge_ however, began drifting away from her enemy. A few pirates leaped across to land on R _evenge's_ deck, but an equal number jumped back aboard the _Corpus Christi_ before the gap between the two ships became too great.

"What's happened?" Castle said, looking around.

"I think they've run aground." Kate said, counting the number of pirates still aboard her ship.

"Why aren't we aground?"

"The _Corpus Christ_ i is a bigger ship. She has a deeper draft than we do." By this time Kate could see that there were twenty or so yards between the two ships and the fight was starting to go out of El Sinverguenza's men. "Attack them! Drive them off our ship!" Kate screamed, her rapier gutting a pirate with a boarding axe as the man tried to decide whether to run or fight. His fellows were quicker witted and fled, jumping into the sea where most were shot down by Kate's musketeers.

The _Revenge_ drifted some two hundred yards before a puff of wind came up and allowed the ship to move to deeper waters. Kate counted up the dead and wounded and set Esposito to seeing how badly damaged the ship was. The answer was that it was badly enough damaged, but not so badly that it couldn't be repaired.

Emergency repairs were made and Dr. Castle resumed his medical practice with the wounded. Kate managed to maneuver her ship to be able to fire broadsides into her foe. The _Corpus Christi_ was unable to reply. As the tide went out, the ship, stuck on a sandbank, began to heel so that her port guns pointed to the sky. Captain Ryan was able to come up and add to the battering of the _Corpus Christi_. By nightfall the work of the waves had begun to open the seams on the pirate ship and the battering she took did more damage. When it was dark, but before moonrise, they could see what boats that were left were leaving _Corpus Christi_. Some men made small raft and others swam towards the small nearby village.

By dawn, the only thing keeping the _Corpus Christi_ from going to the bottom of the sea was the sandbank upon which she sat. Her masts had fallen and her seams gaped open. Kate sent Ryan, his marines and some armed sailors ashore to see what had happened on land. She, her family and more sailors boarded the wrecked ship.

"This ship will never sail again." Esposito said, surveying the wreck.

"Then strip her of everything we can use." Kate said. "Check her magazine and see if they have powder and shot that hasn't gone to the sea bottom. Check their cannons as well. We've had two so badly damaged as to be worthless. And food. She what…."

Esposito laughed. "Please. Captain. I'm a pirate. It's not like I've never looted a ship before." And off he went to do his looting.

A messenger from Ryan brought further news.

"Lieutenant Pierre O'Hara reporting from Captain Ryan, Ma'am." The young officer saluted Kate.

She returned the salute,

"What news?"

"Don Diego sent riders to all of the _rancheros_ around as soon as he saw El Sinverguenza was here. He told them to come with as many armed men as they could. They caught each group of pirates as they emerged from the ocean, Ma'am. Only twenty or so were taken alive and Don Diego hanged the lot of them. El Sinverguenza wasn't taken alive, but Don Diego decided to hang his corpse anyway, Ma'am."

Kate couldn't help grinning. "Please return and give my regards to Captain Ryan and Don Diego. Tell them that I need to supervise the repairs on my ship from whatever I can gather from the wreck of the _Corpus Christi_. Tell Captain Ryan to give whatever assistance Don Diego and his men need. Tell them that we have a doctor aboard who can tend their wounded. I'll come ashore to thank Don Diego personally as soon as I can. Belay that. Tell Don Diego that Captain Montgomery will be ashore as soon as he can manage."

Don Diego sent several boatloads of men to help with the repairs to the _Revenge_. They knew nothing of the shipwright's craft, but they were hard working and willing. By dawn of the next day, the repairs had been made.

"What will we do with the wreck?" Castle asked.

"Perhaps Don Diego and his people can salvage things we didn't need. We'll leave it to them."

"Mother?" Tatiana said. "There is something more we should take. I found them in the main cabin. Come look."

Kate and her family followed Tatiana to the main cabin. She stopped by what must have been El Sinverguenza's very dirty bed.

"You want to take his bed?" Alexis asked, smiling.


	17. Chapter 17

Captain Kate and the Dragon

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Avast me hearties, tis to glory we steer. But I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: The 18th Century.

 **This is a continuation of the stories about the pirate queen, Captain Kate Beckett. In this tale, Kate, her family and crew sail to China and beyond.**

"No, this is what we want." Tatiana pulled on the bedpost and kicked the headboard. A wooden panel opened below the bed. There were four tin boxes there. Tatiana pulled them out and opened each one.

"My God!" Said Kate. "Jewels. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and….There's a fortune here. Tatiana, you truly are a good luck piece. First you found the silver and now this. You'll be handsomely rewarded for this. Handsomely."

Tatiana smiled and blushed. "Thank you, Mother."

That, of course set off a treasure hunt throughout the rest of the ship as Kate's crew pushed and pulled at everything from belaying pins to the mainmast. The sandbox where the cookfire had been was emptied and found to contain….sand. The water butts were emptied, but no treasure was found. Men even crawled through the bilges to no avail. All of the treasure had been found.

"Perhaps that is why El Sinverguenza offloaded the cargo of silver. He could easily flee with the jewels and return later with a new ship to recover the silver." Priscilla opined at lunch.

Kate shook her head. "I don't think we'll ever know what was in El Sinverguenza's mind. Whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant. Now finish eating everyone. We need to say goodbye to Don Diego and thank him for his assistance."

Don Diego was sad that his new English friends couldn't stay longer, but he knew that the sea could be a harsh mistress. He had given the man he knew as Captain Montgomery what information he had about the Spanish lands to the south and the naval forces arrayed there. Regrettably this was very little.

Sailing south, Kate kept her two ships well out to sea, knowing that the Spanish Navy would be in force off the shores of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and Viceroyalty of Peru to protect the great masses of gold and silver that were annually sent to Spain. They were off the Captaincy-General of Chile when the lookout high in the crow's nest called out.

"Ahoy the deck. Ship fine on the port bow. We'd best hurry as she's been dismasted and the water is almost to her gunnels. She won't last long."

Kate quickly changed course and soon was next to the doomed ship. Assuming that the crew would speak Spanish, she asked Esposito to offer them assistance. As Esposito spoke to the man who Kate assumed must be the captain, she examined the nearly wrecked ship. It was a small sloop, but mounted four small cannons. And as an experienced captain, she could tell the little ship had been in a fight and had been badly damaged.

"Captain, he says if we're Spanish or friends of Spain, he'd prefer to take his chances with the ocean."

Kate smiled. The man had courage. Or was insane.

"Esposito, tell him we're English and while we're not friends with Spain, we are not Spain's enemies. But we'll be happy to take him to where ever he thinks he'd be safe."

Esposito spoke again and this time the man smiled and doffed his hat to Kate. Then he and his crew of no more than ten men boarded the _Revenge._

The man bowed to Kate and spoke in English.

"Thank you for your kindness, Captain Beckett. I am Captain Alfonso Cruz y Carillo, your servant."

"But not a servant of the crown of Spain, I'll wager."

"I am a servant of mankind, Captain. I seek to being forth a world with no kings, nobles or the idle rich who extort everything that the poor have and give nothing in return. I and my gallant companions armed our ship, the _Libertad_ , but were set upon by a Spanish ship. We were badly damaged, but escaped. Regrettably, we ran into a storm and lost our masts. However, this setback will not keep me from my sacred mission. Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains."

"Jean-Jacques Rousseau." Alexis, Priscilla and Tatiana said in unison.

Captain Cruz looked shocked and then smiled.

"These lovely young ladies are educated. I am so pleased to be among such intelligent people."

"We'll be happy to help you, Captain, but we need your assistance as well. We are short of food and water. Is there somewhere on the coast of Chile where we can find both?"

"But of course, Captain Beckett. I am friends with the Mapuche people of southern Chile. Spain has been trying to enslave them for centuries with no success. However, I must tell you that they will want firearms in exchange for food and water. Do you have such weapons?"

They did indeed have spare weapons. Whenever possible when they took a ship, they removed everything that they could use, including muskets, powder and shot.

"Captain Beckett, is it?" Cried another voice. "Little Katie Beckett who once took the _Prince William_ , wi' but a dozen men in a longboat? By Jesus, Mary and all the Saints, tis you."

Kate stared at the man. He looked very familiar. If she could just place his name….

"Long John Mills." She said suddenly. "You left our crew shortly after we took the _Prince William_. "

"Aye, and I signed on wi' that mad Frenchman, L'Oloinnais. And here I be years later, back on your ship. An' a fine ship she be. Do ye be needin' a gunner?"

"If your captain will agree…."

"But of course, he can leave." Cried Captain Cruz. "My men are not slaves who must obey my every whim! They are free, as soon will be all of the Americas. I look about me and what do I see from one end of the…"

Mills, recognizing that a long-winded speech was coming quickly broke in.

"But ye'll have not heard the news."

"What news?" Kate asked.

"About Bracken, the devil."

Kate sighed. Even on the far side of the world it didn't seem she could escape from Bracken.

"What news."

"Bracken and his friend, that Lord Desmond, decided to have their way with Lady Caroline Hood whilst they wuz in their cups. Drunk like. The lady objected, so they boxed her ears and tore off her gown. They were going at her fore and aft, if you get my drift, when they were interrupted."

"Who interrupted them?" Castle asked.

"Why, the King himself, that's who."

"That must have been embarrassing." Kate said, not at all sure where this was going.

"Embarrassing? More than that. Lady Caroline is the King's doxy. His mistress. The King was enraged. He considered that a personal insult."

"What did the King do?"

"Very little, I fear. The King can't let it be known that he cheats on the Queen with some trollop. Why, what would happen if the lower orders, such as me, found out." Mills laughed. "But he did banish the two of them from court and had Bracken removed from his job at the Admiralty."

"Hardly a fit punishment." Castle sniffed.

"More happened. Lady Caroline's husband, Colonel Sir Arthur Hood challenged both Bracken and Desmond to a duel. Desmond, the fool, showed up. Hood put a pistol ball in his gut. Desmond took four long days to die."

Priscilla was too much of a lady to do more than smile at the news of the death of the monster her father had tried to marry her to.

"And Bracken?" Kate asked.

"He ran for it. Now all know he's a coward and that the King hates him. He has no friends in London and precious few in the Caribbean where he now lives. The Governor of Jamaica won't talk to him and the Commander of the Royal Navy there has threatened to keel haul him if he ever catches him. Seems he's related to the Hoods. Having Lady Caroline as the King's fancy lady was good for the family. She was able to do well by her family."

"So, Bracken's alone now." Kate said, a feral smile on her face.

"He still has his lands in the Caribbean, the plantations and all. He has his wealth, which is considerable. And he still has the use of his pirate friends and the corrupt merchants that buy his pirated goods. He'd not be easy to take."

"But he can be taken."

Some months later, two things happened almost simultaneously.

Captain Kate Beckett stood on the quarterdeck of the _Revenge_ with her husband's arm around her trim waist as her two ships sailed through the Lesser Antilles and on into the warm Caribbean Sea. Her gaze was drawn to the north where the man who had ruined her life and murdered her parents was now hiding.

 _Soon._ She thought.

In faraway London, a beautiful, mysterious and fabulously wealthy Polish noblewoman arrived. Countess Tatiana Pontiakowski quickly became very close friends with Sir Andrew Grant, whom everyone reckoned to be a rising star in His Majesty's Government. Oddly, Sir Andrew soon became interested in the case of a female pirate in the far-off Caribbean. But, that is another story.

The End. For Now.

 **Author's notes: I occasionally like to throw in the names of real people in fictional situations. Edward Pellew, or Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, was a naval officer in the Napoleonic Wars and appeared fictionally in C. S. Forester's Hornblower novels. You've probably all heard of Lhamso Thondup, but probably know him better by his title, His Holiness, the 14** **th** **Dalai Lama. Zhu De is not as well known, he was a Chinese Communist general and a close associate of Mao Tse Tung. Flora MacDonald is rather well known in Scotland for saving the life of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the battle Culloden in 1746. And while I'm sure that there was never a historical Father Roberto of Santa Barbara, somehow he sounds familiar. However, my characters are all fictional.**

 **Long ago, I was stationed in Tainan, Taiwan and visited Koxinga's fort. My girlfriend's name was Chen Suay Den, or Water Lily Chen.**

 **The sleepy little village of** ** _El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula_** **is now known simply as Los Angeles and, as I understand it, has grown some.**

 **Tatiana was found at the mouth of the Columbia River in what is now Oregon. Russian settlements in North America went as far south as Fort Ross in what is now Sonoma County, Ca. The Indians Kate saw were of the Kwakuital tribe. Russian traders did take Native Americans hostage to force them to gather furs.**

 **Ryan was right, of course. Pirates did not bury their loot to come back for it later. A pirate's life was often short and they wanted their share now. But what's a pirate story without a buried treasure?**

 **Captain Kate Beckett will be back with her family and her friends for a final showdown with Bracken. Or will it be final? He's a slippery rascal. Once I write it, I'll know.**

 **I'm still writing The Girl I left Behind Me, a story set some months after the end of season eight. Some familiar faces will show up. In addition, I have an idea for a story that takes place at the end of season three. I've never liked the idea that Kate would go off by herself to a cabin in the woods after being shot where she could easily be killed. But perhaps Castle could do something to change her trajectory.**

 **And, yes, I do have an idea for another story about Lord and Lady Castle in Renaissance Italy.**


End file.
